Age of Consent
by Siriusly Amused
Summary: Bill thinks Tonks is cute, Tonks is in love with Charlie, and Charlie can only think of dragons. This is the story of the forgotten trio’s time at Hogwarts.
1. Prologue

**Warning:** This prologue was written before _Deathly Hallows_ came out and is therefore not canon. I thought about excluding it completely, but I like it too much. Also -- J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter; I do not.**  
**

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

_This fic is dedicated to:  
Mariah, who doubted I could write it,  
Joey, who wasn't afraid to tell me what parts were crap,  
And to Kari, who reads it religiously.  
_

-

**Prologue**

-

It was hard watching the battle from the sidelines, but if there was one thing that The Golden Trio had learned during their months of Horcrux-hunting, it was that sometimes they needed to keep a low profile and stay out of the fighting. And so the three of them stood at the edge of the forest, concealed by the night and the trees, their hair and clothes flailing in the wind as they somberly watched the scene before them: Malfoy Manner was in flames and a handful of Death Eaters were fighting a score of Aurors, who had just recently Apparated in.

Ron was particularly interested in the fight; his blue eyes were narrowed and focused on a certain charismatic trio, who fought alongside one another with such agility that it appeared that they were three people who possessed the same mind, three fingers on the same hand that was fisted and ready to deal a powerful blow that the Death Eaters would not soon forget. They danced around one another, covered each others' backs, launched one another into the fray; they fought much like how he, Harry and Hermione fought: they were Tonks, Bill and Charlie.

The battle was short. It only took the death of one Death Eater to send the others Apparating away to safety, leaving the Aurors alone with the roaring flame that used to be Malfoy Manner. Ron kept his eyes upon his older brothers and Tonks. The three came together, Bill and Tonks examining what looked to be a wound on Charlie's chest. Words were exchanged before Charlie stalked off to a tent that was being erected nearby as Healers Apparated in and began treating the wounded. Bill and Tonks rejoined the other Aurors to help douse the flames.

"Charlie's hurt," Ron stated simply to his companions, keeping his eyes on the growing confusion before him.

"Do you want company?" Hermione asked.

"Nah," Ron replied, bringing the hood of his hoodie over his red locks as he stepped out of the wooded area. If there was one thing the Death Eaters were, it was closed-minded; for all of these months, they were searching for three teenagers in wizard robes and because of this, Muggle clothing worked almost as well as an invisibility cloak.

"See if you can get any information," Harry called after him, and Ron raised a hand to signal that he heard him as he approached the commotion, keeping his head down so that no one would see his face and recognize him. He entered the medical tent and was greeted with screams and moans.

"Get out of here, kid!"

Ron looked up to find Madame Pomfrey rushing towards him, waving her arms in a shooing motion. Upon seeing Ron's face, however, she stopped short, her eyes blinking in surprise.

"He's in the back," she informed, pointing to a curtained off area. Ron nodded his thanks and, with his hands in his pockets and his hood still over his head, he approached his brother's section and went through the curtain.

Charlie was lying shirtless on a bed, propped up by pillows, his tattooed dragon curled around his shoulders like an inked shawl. His golden brown eyes locked with Ron's blue ones and a corner of his mouth pulled upward in the lopsided smile that the Weasleys were famous for.

"I thought I smelled something foul!" Charlie exclaimed as Ron pushed his hood off, gracing his older brother with a slight smile.

"Shut up, Charlie!" Ron slurred, pulling a chair up to the bed. He turned the chair around and straddled it, folding his arms in front of him on the back of the chair. "You okay?" he asked, nodding at Charlie's bandaged abdomen.

"Yeah," Charlie sighed, following Ron's gaze to the bandages. "If I'm lucky, I'll have a scar."

"If you're lucky?" Ron asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Charlie grinned at him. "Girls dig scars, little brother. Or haven't you found that out yet? Show Hermione any of yours?"

"Piss off," Ron stated softly, his cheeks turning red as he ran a hand through his hair. Charlie chuckled.

"You, Bill and Tonks fight really well together," Ron said suddenly, wanting to change the subject before Charlie pushed the topic of his love life. "I was surprised. I mean…I knew you guys were good fighters individually, but you guys acted as though you could communicate telepathically or something."

"Yeah, one of the many benefits of being best friends is being able to read their facial expressions and body language in a split second." Charlie shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"Best friends?" Ron asked, his face contorting to a shocked expression.

The half smile returned upon Charlie's face, and a flame danced in his eyes. One thing about Charlie Weasley was that he always looked as if he was smirking at the world, as if he knew a joke that the rest of humanity just did not get. "Did you think that you, Harry and Hermione were the only trio to roam the halls of Hogwarts?" he asked. Ron graced his brother with a momentary expression of guilt, causing Charlie's wicked grin to broaden.

"Tonks is my age, little bro. And Bill was a little loser in school so we decided to let him hang out with us because we were nice like that."

"Bill was a loser?" Ron asked skeptically.

"Full on geek! Always in the library studying! You should have seen the way he stuttered with the ladies!"

"And now he's married to quite possibly the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Yeah…the bastard."

It was now Ron's turn to smile, one corner of his mouth turning upward to his eyes.

"So?" Ron asked after Charlie remained silent for a bit.

"So what?" Charlie countered, knitting his brow in confusion at his younger brother.

"So aren't you going to tell me about your Hogwarts days as a member of 'That Other Trio'?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got all night."

Charlie's eyebrows disappeared into his fiery curls with surprise. "You trust Harry and Hermione alone together all night?"

"Yes," Ron replied at once, his face completely serious. "I mean, wouldn't you trust Bill and Tonks to be alone together at night?" Ron winced and shook his head after saying it. "Sorry. That doesn't make sense at all."

Charlie chuckled again. "Actually, little bro, it's a good comparison."

"…What?"

"Well, let's just say that Tonks has had some Weasley loving."

"…What?"

Charlie's lips curled once more into a reptilian smile. "You've got all night? Well then…it all started a few days before my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

---

**End Author's Note:** I got the idea for this story back in April when I realized, quite suddenly, that there's hardly any fics about Bill/Tonks/Charlie back when they were at Hogwarts. There's tons of Marauder-era fics, countless Golden Trio fics, and even a healthy number of Next Generation fics, but the time between the Marauders and the Golden Trio is rarely written about, so I said to myself, "I'm going to write Bill, Tonks and Charlies' years at Hogwarts!" I then went to my friend, M, and said, "I'm going to write Bill, Tonks and Charlies' years at Hogwarts!" ...And she replied, "You can try," which is why this fic is subtitled the way it is. Anyway, I started plotting, and I started writing in May, and I forced myself not to post anything right away. Now it's December and I'm half crazy from exams, so I'm ready to start posting. The fic isn't done yet; I only have 8 chapters written (not including this prologue), but I'm ready to start getting some feedback. I'm actually nervous about this because, unlike my other fics, I really put a lot of work into this one, and I'm assuming the reason why many Bill/Tonks/Charlie fics don't exist is because people aren't that interested in the characters (I know I wasn't until I started writing), so I'm afraid people will be loathe to give it a try. But that is my own cross to bear. ANYWAY...go on and read chapter one...I dare you! XD


	2. When You Were Young

**Warning:** Okay, when I started plotting this fic, I was under the delusion that Bill and Charlie were only a year apart in age, so I planned everything with Bill being only a year above Charlie and Tonks. Then I found out that he's actually _two_ years older than Charlie. My plot partially relied on Bill being only a year above Charlie and Tonks, so while I changed it so that he's two years older, I made some excuse to have him a year behind at Hogwarts (which would make him a year above Charlie and Tonks). I know it's not canon, but it works. Trust me. ;)

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter One**  
_When You Were Young_

-

Thirteen-year-old Bill Weasley was halfway done with his morning wank when his father opened the door to his room and stepped in. Bill's hand stopped mid-stroke and his heart skipped a beat as his blue eyes flashed between the picture of an attractive young lady he held in his free hand and his father standing in the doorway. Arthur's chipper smile faded into an embarrassed grimace as he realized what he had just interrupted.

"Er…um…" the older man stammered as Bill continued to lay motionless, frozen in shock. Arthur quickly shut his mouth and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him with a resounding 'click'.

It was a good thirty seconds later that Bill released the breath that he had been holding. He knew that it would have happened eventually; living in an overpopulated house had the drawback of no privacy whatsoever. Bill couldn't even go one week without someone barging into the bathroom while he was taking a shower because the house only had one bathroom and when the twins needed to go, they needed to go. But at the same time, Bill had hoped beyond hope that it would never happen.

He gave himself a few minutes to settle down before shoving the picture under his pillow, getting out of bed and dressing. He was just pulling on a T-shirt when there was a knock at his door. "Oh please, no," Bill muttered under his breath, staring at the door as if it were an omen of death.

"Bill? Can I come in, son?"

"Er…yeah, Dad," Bill replied, his voice squeaking slightly out of embarrassment; the squeak in his voice held all the connotations of being thirteen: change and awkwardness.

Bill felt his cheeks burn as the door opened and Arthur stepped into the room for the second time that morning.

'_Please don't say anything about it. Please don't say anything about it!'_ Bill thought fervently, hoping that his thoughts would some how reach his father telepathically.

Arthur shut the door.

'_Fuck!'_

The older man graced Bill with a jovial smile. "Well!" he stated in a loud voice. Bill stared at him moodily, daring him to bring the subject up. "Well…" Arthur repeated more softly, his smile fading as his eyes left Bill and focused instead upon the floor. "Well…"

There was an uncomfortable silence in which Bill contemplated throwing himself out of the window.

"I'm sorry, Bill," Arthur said at last, looking up from the floor. "I should have knocked first."

"It's alright, Dad," Bill replied quickly. All he wanted was for his dad to leave so that he could try to suffocate himself in his pillow and never have to deal with interrupted wanking sessions again.

"No, it's not alright!" Arthur stated firmly. "You're a young man now and you deserve your privacy! But listen, Bill, you shouldn't feel ashamed or embarrassed or anything! What you're feeling is perfectly natural! You see, son, when a young man reaches a certain age…"

Bill's eyes suddenly widened and shot to his father pleadingly. "You're not going to…"

"…his body starts to change and he starts to feel curious about girls and sex."

"Oh, God, you are!" Bill moaned, sinking down onto his bed and burying his head in his hands. Arthur sat next to him and continued on as if Bill hadn't said anything.

"Now, Bill, sex is like…well it's like plugs and outlets!"

Bill groaned loudly. His father was going to use his precious Muggle plugs as an analogy to sex.

"The plugs have those pointy things and they go into the outlets, and when they do, ekeltricity happens!"

"I know, Dad!"

"You know what?"

"I know the basic mechanics of sex! May I go now?" Bill asked, rising from the bed, but Arthur grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"I figured you did, son; I was just making sure. But I thought perhaps you would like to be informed of what lies beyond the basic mechanics of sex." Arthur took out his wand and conjured a book out of thin air. "Now," he stated, straightening his spectacles and opening the book, "we'll start with the contraceptive charm, then move onto the psychological effects of sex, then go straight into the importance of satisfying your partner."

"No, it's alright, Dad!" Bill mentioned hollowly. "I've just decided that I'm not going to have sex. Ever."

Arthur smiled and gazed at Bill over his glasses. "I'll just leave this here, then," he said, shutting the book and placing it on Bill's bed. "If you ever have any questions…"

"Yeah, yeah, I can come to you; I know!" Bill was seriously contemplating digging a hole in the garden and burying himself alive.

Arthur smiled once again and ruffled Bill's hair. "Now that that's settled, I have something I need to tell you, son. Two things actually."

Bill stared at his father in horror. "Please don't tell me that you and Mum are going to have another kid!" He couldn't remember when they told him about Charlie, and he was happy when he found out about Percy, but after the twins were born, Bill thought that his parents needed to stop. But then came Ron, and a year later Ginny and after that, he swore that if his parents had another kid, he was packing his things and moving into Hogwarts for good or something.

Arthur threw his head back and laughed outright. Bill didn't find the situation funny.

"Of course not, son!" Arthur paused and looked pensive for a moment. "Well not really, anyway," he added.

"What do you mean, 'Not really?'"

"Well, a friend of your mother's asked if it would be alright for her daughter, Nymphadora, to spend the remainder of the summer holidays with us. Nymphadora's the same age as Charlie and will be going to Hogwarts this year, but she doesn't have any magical friends, so we thought it would be nice for her to be acquainted with you and Charlie. She'll be arriving this evening."

"Where are you putting her?" Bill narrowed his eyes suspiciously; he was the only one in the house who wasn't sharing a room.

"She's sleeping on the couch." Arthur responded, waving his hand dismissively. "We thought about putting her with Ron and Ginny, but those two are still in that stage where they wake up at the bloody crack of dawn and what eleven-year-old girl wants to do that on her last few days off before school? But it's funny that you should bring up sleeping arrangements, Bill."

Bill narrowed his eyes even more. "Why?"

"Well, Charlie and Percy got into another fight this morning so your mother and I have decided…"

But before Arthur could finish, the door to Bill's room burst open with a loud bang, revealing a short, eleven-year-old boy who had a blanket full of belongings in one hand and a frog in the other.

"Bill! We're going to be roommates!" Charlie exclaimed loudly, coming into the room and throwing his arms around Bill. Bill received the embrace stiffly, barely able to believe that this was happening to him. He was about to push his brother away when the younger boy discovered the book lying on the bed.

"The Art of Sex? WILLIAM, YOU CAD! Hey, does this have pictures? I'm not entirely certain which hole I'm supposed to stick it in." And with that, Charlie settled down upon the bed between Bill and Arthur, taking the book into his lap and flipping through the pages, pointing out interesting-looking pictures to the frog in his hand.

Bill gazed despondently at his father over his brother's head. "What happened to that privacy thing we were talking about?"

-

"Charles, for the love of Merlin, get in here!"

Charlie startled awake to the sound of Bill's voice ricocheting up the stairs to their newly-shared bedroom. The younger Weasley had been in the process of moving his stuff into the room but had fallen asleep almost as soon as Arthur had magically conjured his bed in. Rubbing his sleep-laden eyes, Charlie got up from the bed and descended to the kitchen where he found several things which included: 1) the twins running around naked, 2) Ron attempting to eat chocolate syrup and getting it all over himself, 3) Ginny crying from lack of attention and/or a dirty diaper, 4) Bill torn between which sibling he should go to first, and 5) Percy sitting at the table doing absolutely nothing.

This last thing caused the whole of Charlie's being to burn with anger. At nine-years-old, Percy was perfectly able to help Bill handle the children, but Percy also had a way of keeping himself distant from the incidences that occurred within the family.

"Come on, Charlie! Help me!" Bill pleaded while scooping up a definitely stinky Ginny in one arm and wrestling the chocolate away from Ron before scooping him up as well in the other arm.

Charlie gave Percy what he hoped was a particularly vindictive glare before reaching out and grabbing one of naked twins. The second twin, by default, immediately collided into Charlie's other arm.

"LET US GO!" they both wailed. Ron was screaming due to his lack of chocolate and this prompted Ginny to cry even louder in what Charlie was sure was the hope that if she cried the loudest of the bunch, someone, for the love of all things sacred, would change her diaper. Charlie vaguely wondered where his parents were.

"And this is…uh…our lovely children."

The screams and tears were briefly silenced at the sound of Molly's voice as seven sets of eyes turned to the door where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing with three complete strangers. These three complete strangers consisted of: 1) a big, burly-looking man with a beard, 2) a buxom, beautiful-looking woman, and 3) a brunette, button-nosed girl. Charlie noted that the girl was dressed in the widest array of miss-matched clothing, which included a T-shirt that had a picture of a dragon on it; her T-shirt alone made Charlie decide that she was the most awesome girl on the planet.

"Fred! George! For goodness sake, put some clothes on!" Molly reprimanded, and Charlie, realizing that said twins were in his arms, gave them each a slightly forceful push towards the stairs. Ron and Ginny looked to be on the verge of tears yet again.

"This is our eldest, Bill. And next to him is Charlie. He's your age, dear," Molly nodded at the girl, who offered a slight smile in return. "The two little ones that Bill's carrying are Ron and Ginny. Fred and George were the naked twins. And Percy is sitting at the table." Molly rattled off the introductions as quickly as she could because both Ron and Ginny were whimpering, warning the crowd that if they weren't seen to soon, they would erupt into The Terrible Twosome Tantrum! Bill graced the new people with a quick nod and smile before turning towards Charlie.

"Do you want to change Ginny or give Ron a bath?"

Charlie screwed up his face; he neither wanted to confront the stinkbomb in Ginny's diaper nor get drenched while attempting to clean Ron. Ginny, however, reached out her pudgy arms to Charlie, deciding for him.

"When are you going to be potty-trained?" he asked her softly, taking her in his arms and ascending the stairs. He went into the nursery and changed her while holding his breath so as to not take in the smell. When she was cleaned up and smelling nicely again, Charlie placed her in her crib and returned to the kitchen – where he found no one.

A laugh sounded from the living room, causing Charlie to investigate. Molly and the girl were in there, sitting awkwardly on the couch, a duffel bag lying on the floor by the girl's feet. Neither of them seemed to notice Charlie lurking in the doorway, so he took that time to get a good look at the girl. She looked to be the same height as him with skinny limbs attached to her small frame. Her hair, which was a light, mousey brown color, was cut short with blunt bangs covering the forehead of her round face. She had large eyes that appeared to have a hazel color to them. Her hands were on her knees and she was kicking her legs back and forth slightly, as if it was difficult for her to contain her energy.

"So, Nymphadora," Molly stated good-naturedly, "do you always dress so…uniquely?" Charlie could see his mother eyeing the girl's red dragon shirt of awesomeness, yellow skirt, hot pink tights and black combat boots with curiosity.

"Yes," the girl replied confidently. "Mum started dressing me like this when she found out that I can change my appearance. When I was little, I would sometimes change myself to look like other kids just for the fun of it. So she had to dress me so that I'd stand out if she needed to figure out which kid was hers."

Charlie had no idea what this girl was on about. Neither did Molly, apparently.

"You can change your appearance, dear?"

"Yeah." And within a split second, the girl had transformed herself into a petite, blonde-haired, blue-eyed eleven-year-old.

"That is the coolest thing I have ever seen!" Charlie exclaimed loudly, making his presence known. The two females turned to look at him, the girl's appearance quickly changing back. She smiled at him, her face erupting with little splotches of pink blush.

"Cheers," she told him through her smile.

"Oh, Charlie, dear! Come in!"

Charlie entered the room and sat in a chair near the couch.

"Charlie, this is Nymphadora, the girl I was telling you about earlier this morning," Molly introduced.

"Call me Tonks," the girl corrected. "Everyone at my old school did."

"You weren't home-schooled?" Charlie asked, his amazement with this girl growing with each word she spoke; she was strange, but in an interesting way.

"Yeah, Dad's Muggleborn, so my parents decided to send me to a Muggle school until Hogwarts. They wanted me to understand both worlds."

"What are Muggle kids like?" Charlie asked, realizing that he must have looked like his father did when he found a new battery.

The girl – Tonks – shrugged. "They're exactly like us except they don't randomly cause things to catch fire." She paused and furrowed her brow. "Unless they're playing with matches or something."

"What are matches?" Charlie asked.

"Wooden sticks that Muggles use to make fire," Bill explained, coming into the room, a bowl of pasta in one hand as the other hand twirled the noodles onto a fork and shoved it into his mouth. He was wearing different clothes and his short hair was wet as though he had just taken a shower himself instead of merely bathing Ron.

He crossed the living room, coming to plop into a huge, squashy armchair that was opposite from the one Charlie was sitting in. He slouched down, throwing one leg over an armrest as he got comfortable and continued to shove forkfuls of pasta into his mouth. Charlie was amazed at Bill's ability to eat massive amounts of food while still managing to look like a starved orphan. Charlie himself was still waiting for his own baby fat to dissipate.

Suddenly, there was a loud, rumbling noise coming from the general direction of Tonks' stomach.

"Are you hungry, dear?" Molly asked, placing a hand upon the girl's shoulder. Tonks' stomach issued another rumble as a reply, sending Molly into her infamous Feed the Children mode. "Come along, Tonks, dear!" she said brightly, rising from the couch and taking a hold of the girl's hand. "I'll fix you something nice to eat in the kitchen."

Tonks followed Molly out of the living room, gracing Charlie with what appeared to be a shy half smile as she passed him.

"So," Bill started once the females had left the room. "What's your opinion of the girl?" He slurped a noodle into his mouth, leaving a trail of pasta sauce on his chin, which he promptly wiped off with his hand.

"She is awesome," Charlie replied in all seriousness. "What do you think of her?"

Bill shrugged. "She's cute."

"Cute as in Ginny cute, or cute as in the girl who works at the grocery store cute?" Charlie asked.

"The girl who works at the grocery store isn't cute," Bill corrected, waving his fork at Charlie for emphasis. "She's hot, which Tonks is not. Yet Tonks isn't exactly Ginny cute either."

"Then what is she?"

Bill shrugged, chewing the pasta in his mouth. "She's just cute, is all."

-

That night, Tonks stared at her reflection in the mirror, watching in an indifferent fashion as her appearance melted from one look to another. Her hair changed between natural and unnatural colors and alternated between short and long. Her eyes changed shape, size and color. Her nose grew and shrunk. Even her skin color changed from ivory to ebony. Finally her features contorted into her natural state: mousy brown hair, pale skin, a thin face with pointed features and grey, piercing eyes.

"Not as interesting as some of your other looks, hun," the mirror told her.

Tonks didn't reply, but secretly agreed with the mirror; she was grateful for her Metamorphmagus ability simply because she didn't like how she naturally looked. It wasn't so much that she thought that she was ugly; it was more that she looked too much like a family she never knew.

She sighed, her small shoulders slumping in the mirror as she altered her facial features to her preferred look: heart-shaped face, rosy cheeks, button nose and large, hazel eyes. She took a moment and contemplated her hair. Now that she was amongst wizards and witches, she was able to mix up her look as much as she wanted. Back when she was attending Muggle school, her parents made her keep her mousy brown hair as to not draw attention.

Settling upon light blue hair that was short in the back with long locks falling into her face, Tonks grabbed her stuff, left the bathroom and crashed right into a male chest.

"Whoa! Nymphadora! You okay?"

Tonks blinked rapidly as Bill put his hands on her shoulders to steady both himself and her. He grinned down at her, his mouth pulling to one corner in the smile that he shared with Charlie.

"Tonks."

"Pardon?"

"Everyone calls me Tonks."

She was aware that she was blushing, which was unusual for her. It was just that she was suddenly aware or how tall Bill seemed to her. This coupled with the fact that he was in pajamas, and that his close proximity was engulfing her with the clean boy smell, caused her to realize that she was sharing an intimacy with a non-related boy that she had never shared before.

Bill offered her another smile. "I'm not everyone," he replied while side-stepping her into the bathroom. "Nice hair, by the way," he added before closing the door with a click.

Tonks' lips pulled into an embarrassed yet pleased smile as she hugged her bath bag close to her chest and descended the steps. Upon entering the living room, she was surprised to find Molly using her wand to hang curtains around the couch.

"So you have some privacy, dear," Molly explained. "I have them charmed to only open for you. That way the boys won't be able to accidentally walk in on you while you're changing."

"Um, thanks," Tonks replied, imagining a horrific scene that involved Bill and/or Charlie walking in on her changing and teasing her mercilessly because at eleven-years-old, Tonks was so flat-chested that her training bra was more for show than actual necessity.

Molly finished the curtains and turned towards Tonks, smiling benevolently with her hands on her hips. "Now, you know that if you need anything, all you have to do is ask, right?"

Tonks nodded.

"Good girl. Well, goodnight!" Molly held out her arms and engulfed Tonks in a hug that was both warm and comforting. Tonks breathed in Molly's cinnamon scent, feeling as though she had known the woman her entire life instead of a mere few hours.

"G'night, Mrs. Weasley," Tonks said once Molly released her.

"Call me Molly, dear." Molly winked playfully before ascending the stairs, leaving Tonks alone in a dimly lit living room.

Turning to the couch, Tonks shoved her bath bag into her duffel bag and was rummaging around for a book when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

"Hey, Tonks!"

She tried to turn around quickly but in her haste, her legs tangled with one another, causing her to crash to the floor with a very girly and embarrassing 'eep!'.

"Bloody hell! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Charlie," Tonks replied, burying her face into the carpeting in the hopes of hiding her blush.

The floor thumped with Charlie's footsteps as he came to lie on the floor beside her. Tonks opened her eyes and found Charlie's face a mere six inches away from hers, his red curls splayed out on the carpet. It was almost like he needed to look directly into her eyes to ascertain that she was okay.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly.

"You didn't," Tonks replied. "I knew someone was coming; I'm just clumsy."

Charlie broke into a large, crooked smile. "Bill trips over his feet all the time too! But I think that's more because they're too big for the rest of his body."

Tonks nodded, not entirely sure why she and Charlie were lying on the living room floor in the middle of the night, talking about Bill's feet.

"Um, did you want something, Charlie?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep, and I figured that you probably wouldn't be able to either, since this is a new place for you and all. So I thought maybe we could do something." He shrugged.

Tonks sat up, smoothing down her hair as she did so, and Charlie followed suit.

"Like what?" she asked. He was right; she didn't feel as though she would be able to sleep that night.

"Well," Charlie started, leaning back on his hands and gazing at the ceiling in contemplation, "I guess I could show you where I go when I wanna get away."

Tonks was taken aback. The boys at her old school still had 'No Girls Allowed' signs outside of their places, and here was Charlie Weasley, willing to invite her into his.

"But you have to promise not to tell _anyone_ about it. Not even Bill because he'll tell Mum and Dad, and I'll get into loads of trouble!"

"I promise," Tonks said, holding out her pinky. Charlie stared at her outstretched pinky blankly. Tonks sighed, and brought her hand to Charlie's, locking her pinky around his. "It's called a pinky promise," she explained. "Muggle kids do it."

"Ohhh," Charlie breathed, gazing at their interlocked pinkies. "Wicked." And before Tonks could say anything else, Charlie grabbed her hand and practically pulled her to the door.

Tonks half expected him to lead her into the nearby wooded area, but he led her to a shed instead.

"It's kind of far, so we'll have to fly."

"Fly?" Tonks asked, her eyes widening as Charlie threw open the shed door. "How?"

"On brooms, of course!"

Now it was Tonks' turn to stare blankly.

"Don't tell me you've never flown a broom before!"

"I grew up in a Muggle community, remember?"

Charlie furrowed his brow. "You better ride with me then. We don't want any accidents." He disappeared into the shed.

"I'm sure I can fly by myself if you show me!" Tonks replied indignantly. Charlie burst from the shed on a broom and hovered before her.

"You admitted to being clumsy! I'll teach you properly when it's light out. But tonight just trust me and ride in front." Charlie dropped one hand to his side to allow Tonks to get on. Tonks eyed him and the broom suspiciously for a few moments before throwing a leg over and mounting the broom. Once she was situated, Charlie wrapped his arms around her, his hands firmly grasping the handle in front of her.

"Don't worry; I won't let you fall," he said very close to her ear. Tonks blushed and attempted to swallow. Her increased heartbeat had nothing to do with the fact that she was going to fly and everything to do with the fact that Charlie Weasley was engulfing her. If the other girls could see her, she knew that they would be green with envy.

Charlie tilted the broom upwards and they shot into the night sky.

Flying was the most incredible sensation Tonks had ever felt. She initially emitted girly screams as the wind roared in her ears and Charlie zig-zagged into the sky. But soon they steadied at a high altitude and Tonks stopped her delighted screams in favor of taking everything in. The English countryside zipped below them and the stars and moon appeared to be right above them. She tentatively took one hand off of the broom and held it off to the side, cutting the mist of a cloud.

"Cool, innit?" Charlie asked loudly as Tonks' arm disappeared in a swirl of mist. Tonks turned her head just enough to offer Charlie a wide smile.

"It's beyond cool!" she told him, bringing her hand back to grasp the broom.

They had been flying for quite some time when Tonks noticed the clump of a million lights and the thrum of city noise.

"Charlie?" she asked, practically yelling so that he could hear her above the roar of wind. "Is…is that London?"

Charlie didn't answer, but merely smiled. He didn't need to answer; Tonks could make out Big Ben.

Charlie lowered the broom until they came to rest upon the top of a skyscraper. He released her from his embrace and she toppled off, falling ungracefully onto the cemented roof on her hands and knees.

"This is where you go when you want to get away?" she asked, looking up.

"Yep!" Charlie replied brightly. He was off of the broom and inching closer to the edge of the building, his arms thrown wide as if he were embracing the city.

"You know, most people choose places that are secluded. That's the whole point of getting away, right? Going someplace where no one else is?"

Charlie twisted his body so that he could smile widely at her. "My house is in the middle of nowhere. I like coming here because it reminds me that the world's bigger than I am."

"Do you get lonely at home?" Tonks didn't mean to ask it, but the words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

Charlie sighed, his shoulders sagging as he stared out at the city. "Yes and no," he replied at last, stepping away from the edge and coming to sit by Tonks. "I didn't go to a school like you; I was home schooled. So my only friends are my brothers and sister. Ron and Ginny are cute and all, but they don't really carry on conversations yet. The twins are good for a laugh but give you a headache after awhile. And Percy and I don't really get along. I used to have Bill, but he went to Hogwarts last year, leaving me alone."

"Bill's twelve?" Tonks asked, shocked. He seemed too tall to be twelve, and his voice seemed to be in the process of breaking. Charlie shook his head.

"Bill's thirteen, but Mum and Dad wouldn't let him go to Hogwarts when he was eleven because of You Know Who, so he's a year behind. He should be going into third year, but he's only going into second year."

"Poor Bill."

Charlie shrugged. "He's not the only one in his year who's a year older than they should be. Other parents did the same thing that Mum and Dad did."

Tonks gazed ahead, staring at the lights of London. "I remember Mum and Dad talking about You Know Who. They said that if he was still in power when it was time for me to go to Hogwarts, I wouldn't go. They'd send me to a Muggle secondary school and I'd grow up Muggle."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, they probably would have taught me some magic, but I would have gotten a Muggle education and probably a Muggle job afterwards."

"Then I'm really glad that You Know Who is gone. Otherwise, I probably would have never met you."

Tonks turned her head to stare at him; he was smiling shyly, his eyes fixed resolutely on his knees. He was obviously a boy who was never told that girls had cooties.

"Come on!" he said suddenly, thumping her on the back. "We need to get home before the sun comes up."

Charlie mounted the broom and dropped one hand to his side so that Tonks could get on. Tonks gazed out at the London skyline, taking it in one last time before throwing a leg over the broom and holding on tight, oh so conscious of Charlie's arms around her and feeling stupid for thinking of a boy in such a way.

The ride back to The Burrow seemed longer than the ride to London, mostly because exhaustion had finally caught up with Tonks. She had to fight to keep her eyelids from drooping and her head from nodding forward. A part of her realized that Charlie was just as tired; she heard him yawn several times, yet he managed to keep the broom steady.

They were just reaching The Burrow when the sun finally broke free of the horizon, basking everything in a brilliant, golden glow.

"It's like the world's on fire," Charlie commented sleepily by her ear. Tonks could only nod in agreement seeing as she was too awestruck with the beauty of it to form a coherent thought. "I like fire," Charlie continued. "It's wild and it smells like danger." A smile broke through Tonk's sleepy expression at Charlie's words.

They finally touched down just outside of the shed, and Tonks once again tumbled off of the broom, but this time it was due to exhaustion.

"I could fall asleep right here," she said, inhaling the scent of the fresh lawn and not caring that the morning dew was dampening her pajamas.

"That's nice, but Mum'll kill me if you do," Charlie stated, helping her up. The two awkwardly stumbled to the house, using one another for support as if they were two drunkards returning home.

"Finally!" Charlie sighed once they were back in the living room. He collapsed into one of the armchairs and curled up into a ball, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the cushion.

Tonks took a moment to stare at him, noticing the way the sun lighted his fiery locks and how comfortable he looked. She sighed, then shook her head to clear it of all thought as she plopped onto the couch and immediately lapsed into a dizzying sleep; she still felt as though she were flying.

---

**End Author's Note:** I really hope you guys are enjoying this. I think I've edited this chapter ten times since I wrote it last May. If it seems a little slow, I apologize. That's the problem with 7-year stories: Eleven-year-olds don't exactly have the most face-paced lives ever. It's particularly true for this trio because they don't have the invisibility cloak, they don't have the Marauder's Map and the don't have Voldemort breathing down their necks. I promise that the plot eventually picks up and these three run into plenty of problems themselves. Actually, the end of the fic is kind of drama-filled, so enjoy the lightness while you can! Where was I going with this? I have no idea. Anyway, expect the next chapter up around Christmas. The next chapter's written (a lot of chapters are already written), but I'm trying to pace myself. Please, please, please review!


	3. Never Let You Go

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Two**  
_Never Let You Go_

-

Bill paused in his eating to glance at his younger brother sitting next to him. Charlie's frame was slumped with defeat, as if he felt that the sorting hat had done him a great injustice.

"Stop moping, mate!" Bill scolded, reaching across his brother for the mashed potatoes. "People are going to think you're some pansy who just wants to go home to his mummy or something."

Charlie looked up at him with large, watery eyes. "But…! But…!" The younger boy gritted his teeth with frustration over not being able to coherently express what he was feeling and instead resulted to stretching his hand out forlornly in front of him, his eyes seeking out a certain someone. "Toooonnnnkkkkks!" Charlie whimpered pathetically. Thankfully he kept his voice down.

As if sensing Charlie's call, Tonks, sitting at the Hufflepuff table, glanced sadly over her shoulder. Her hair was long and dark auburn in color that day and her rosy cheeks could not hide the despondency she felt over being separated from Charlie.

Bill brought Charlie into a headlock and winked at Tonks. The girl smiled slightly and turned back to face her plate and her fellow Hufflepuffs. Bill released Charlie.

"You'll still have classes with her," he comforted, shoving some chicken into his mouth. "And there's always weekends and stuff."

"That's not the point, William!" Charlie complained, finally eating his own food instead of sitting like little boy lost. "We were supposed to be Gryffindors together! We were going to terrorize our housemates together! Get reprimanded by McGonagall together! Play Quidditch together!"

"You can still do those things," Bill reasoned, smiling when the dessert appeared on the table. "Only now you have two houses to terrorize. As a matter of fact, why stop there? Why not terrorize the whole damn school?"

Charlie – who had been staring at the table quizzically (he had just started on his chicken only to have it disappear and be replaced by chocolate pudding) – suddenly brightened. "You're right! It would be so much more fun to terrorize the entire school!"

Bill's blood suddenly ran cold. "Please don't!" he pleaded. "I was only joking. Besides, I told Mum that I'd keep an eye on you!"

Charlie stared at him blankly. "You can watch me while I terrorize the school; I don't mind."

Bill groaned and put his face in his hand just as the table was cleared of dessert.

"I was eating that!" Charlie exclaimed to his plate.

"Don't talk to the cutlery," Bill mumbled.

"Gryffindor first years, follow me please!" Bill looked up to see Jolanda, Gryffindor seventh year and Head Girl, bouncing down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, a small trail of scared-looking first years in her wake.

Charlie was staring at the line with wide, almost fearful eyes.

"Go on," Bill coaxed, nudging his brother. "Jolanda's nice. Overly enthusiastic, but nice."

The two got up from the table and Charlie joined the group of first years, looking forlornly over his shoulder at Bill, who nodded him on.

"Okay, first years, I'm going to take you on a small tour of Hogwarts! Isn't that exciting?" Jolanda asked, clapping her hands together delightedly. Some of the first year girls smiled widely and nodded; the first year boys – Charlie included – mumbled incoherently and shrugged their shoulders.

Bill watched them leave the Great Hall, Jolanda shooting ahead like a star with the first years scurrying behind. Bill sighed, ran his hand through his hair and began to slowly make his way to the door himself.

With the first years gone, some of the other students had gathered in small groups to talk about their summers. Bill had just skirted around a large group of sixth year boys who were talking about their latest excursion to a Muggle pub when he caught sight of a Ravenclaw girl in his year talking with two other girls. Her eyes broke away from her friends and latched onto his. She smiled and waved at him, and Bill attempted to smile and wave back but ended up stumbling over his own feet. He managed to catch himself before he fell, but his face still glowed red and the girl – Athena – giggled.

Bill's face was still red upon entering the Gryffindor second years' dorm room.

"OH THANK GOD!"

Mick, one of Bill's dorm mates and fellow Gryffindor 13-year-old second year, rushed up to Bill and engulfed him in a hug.

"Mick, what the hell?" Bill asked awkwardly; he felt as though Mick – who was a burly boy to begin with, but had obviously had a growth spurt over the summer – was close to snapping his spine in two. Mick stepped back from Bill, but kept a hand on his shoulder, gesturing to the other boys in their dorm with the other hand.

"Look at them!" Mick exclaimed. "We've got a good six inches on them at least! Last year it was okay being a year older because we didn't look it! But I came in this year and they're all tiny and childlike, and I was so afraid that you would be too and I'd be this great, big oaf or something!"

Bill looked around at the other boys, all of whom did appear very short and childlike. They, who had always ignored Mick and Bill for the most part, were focusing on unpacking and didn't seem perturbed by Mick's words.

"Well we're not the only ones who had growth spurts over the summer," Bill replied, brushing Mick's hand off of his shoulder.

"Really?" Mick asked, genuinely shocked. He immediately grabbed Johnny by the collar and peered at him as if trying to deduce whether or not he had grown a few inches.

"Yeah, I saw Athena in the Great Hall. You know, the 13-year-old second year Ravenclaw."

"The four-eyed, freckled freak?"

"She doesn't have glasses anymore. And she not a freak!" Bill stated indignantly, sitting upon his bed and kicking off his shoes.

"She lives in the library!" Mick exclaimed in a manner that suggested that he actually believed that she did, in fact, live in the library.

"Yeah, well…she's a Ravenclaw!" Bill defended, pulling on his pajamas.

"So what about her?" Mick asked.

"Nothing. I was just saying that she grew a bit too, that's all."

Mick came up and leaned against one of the posts of Bill's bed. He smiled slyly at Bill. "You were checking out her arse, weren't you?"

"No!" Bill replied immediately.

"Well you couldn't have been checking out her chest unless she suddenly outgrew her training bra!" Mick paused. "Wait! _Does_ she have boobs now?"

One of the younger boys snickered. Mick glared at him. "Oh grow up!"

"She doesn't have boobs!" Bill exclaimed, turning red. "Well…she might. Our uniforms aren't really flattering and…grah! I'm not going to talk about this! Hey, where are you going?" Mick was quickly walking towards the dormitory door. He turned around and smiled.

"I'm going to break into the Ravenclaw common room and check her out!"

"You don't even know where the Ravenclaw common room is!" Bill reasoned.

"I'll find it!" And with that Mick was gone. Bill glanced around at the other boys, all of whom were ignoring him like they normally did. Sighing, Bill got into bed and tried to fall asleep.

-

Charlie figured that he and his new dorm mates were not going to sleep that night. It was nearly two in the morning and all five of the boys were still up. Three of the boys had introduced themselves to Charlie and the four of them had been talking ever since. The fifth boy, a skinny and very pale blonde, sat on his bed, his chin in his hand, appearing very pensive. Charlie was just about to ask the blonde boy if he missed his mum and dad or something when the boy, suddenly overcome with resolution, sprang to his feet and stood upon his bed, raising his arms above his head.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make," the boy stated clearly, silencing the others. "My name is Max, and I am a vampire!"

There was several moments of silence before two of the boys screamed, grabbed each other and ran out of the room, and the third boy, who was a Muggleborn, looked confused and exclaimed, "Wait! Those things really exist?" before following his screaming dorm mates out of the room. Charlie merely gazed at Max curiously.

"You're not running away," Max observed.

"Well, if you were dangerous, you wouldn't be here," Charlie reasoned.

Max broke out into a smile and jumped down from his bed. Charlie had noted that Max had a face that the girls would love, but when he smiled, his face contorted into something that wasn't ugly by any means, but was kind of dorkish.

"You're right; I'm not dangerous," Max replied, walking over to a separate trunk and throwing it open. Charlie peered in and found clear bags filled with blood. "In the olden days, vampires had no choice but to feed on other humans, but then Muggles created this wonderful thing called blood drives!" Max picked up a bag of blood. "Do you mind? I haven't had one since this morning."

"Go ahead."

Charlie watched as Max latched the bag onto two fangs that had suddenly sprouted from his mouth. The bag was drained within minutes and Max disposed of it without so much as getting a drop of blood on himself or the carpet. At that moment, the door to their room burst open and their three dorm mates came in. The Muggleborn, a boy named Corey, stood in the center, holding a crucifix, and the other two boys were latched onto his side as the three of them inched closer as a group.

"The power of Christ compels you!" Corey shouted while pulling out a cup of water from behind his back and throwing it upon Max.

Max blinked as water dripped from his blonde locks into his clear, blue eyes. "I'm sorry," he said politely. "Jesus compels me to do what?"

Corey's mouth hung open in shock. "You said His name!"

"Well…yeah," Max said with a straight face.

"But…but you're a soulless creature who should be repelled by the name of God!"

"Technically so should you, _wizard_," Max replied coolly.

The three dorm mates all took a step back in shock, realizing that their prejudice should indeed include themselves.

"So does this mean I can still eat garlic around you?" Charlie asked, half hoping to lighten the mood. Max offered him a slight smile.

"You can eat garlic around me, take me out into the sun, take me to church, whatever you want. You can even stake me through the heart. My body will just push the stake out and heal itself within seconds."

"So you can't die?" Corey asked, glaring at Max angrily.

Max fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable. "No, I can. Decapitation, fire and also being deprived of blood kills me," he explained, kicking the side of the trunk filled with blood. "And if I get severely injured and can't find blood to replenish me, I die."

Charlie noted that the other boys were looking at Max as though he were a strange, strange boy. Max sighed.

"Vampirism isn't so much a curse…it's more like a blood abnormality. We have these things in our blood that are kind of like white blood cells on crack. These things are constantly rejuvenating and fixing any damage done to our bodies. Which is why most vampires avoid being out in the sun for too long; the sun is always damaging and aging skin, so when we're out in it, these microorganisms in our blood are constantly fixing the damage that the sun's causing. It's exhausting."

"Sounds nice," Corey stated, looking somewhat jealous. Max shrugged.

"Well all good things come with baggage. These microorganisms in our blood actually use our blood as fuel, which is why we need to constantly replenish ourselves with an alternate supply of blood."

"Which are those things?" Corey pointed to Max's trunk of blood bags.

"Yeah, Muggles have blood drives where they willingly go and give a pint of their blood. Mostly that blood is used for Muggle hospitals, but us vampires have created our own blood banks. The Muggles that go to these blood banks still think they're giving for hospitals but…" Max trailed off, obviously not liking the deception.

"So you've never bitten anyone?" Corey asked suspiciously, and Max turned red and looked at the floor. "You have! You're sick!" Corey spat out, glaring at Max vindictively.

"It's not like that!" Max defended himself furiously. "There will inevitably come a time in my ridiculously long life where I'll be injured and not have a blood bag on me and may have to…" Max paused as disgust rolled over his features "…to feed on someone to save my life!"

"By taking theirs?"

"No!" Max looked horrified at the thought. "I would only need about a pint or so. That's why I've bitten someone before. My Mum, who's a vampire herself, had me bite her a few times when I was younger so that I could learn how to do it without hurting anyone!"

There was a long silence before…

"You sucked your Mum's neck?!? That's the most disgusting thing I've heard all night!"

Max blushed furiously and looked like a deer in headlights.

"So your Mum didn't breastfeed you, Corey?" Charlie asked, coming to Max's defense.

Corey looked slightly disgusted, but closed his mouth.

"Look, I know what you must think of me," Max stated, "but I promise you that I'm not what you think." He paused and ran a hand through his immaculate blonde locks. "Give me a chance? Please?"

There was a long silence as the other three boys stared at Max suspiciously.

"Just keep your fangs to yourself," Corey stated, turning and getting into his bed, the other boys following suit. Max looked at Charlie, who shrugged.

"Could've gone worse," Charlie commented, slapping Max on the back.

-

"Hey, Tonks, wait up!"

Tonks stopped walking, her eyes widening with exasperation as she waited for Madison to catch up with her.

Madison was one of Tonks' dorm mates: a beautiful girl with olive skin, green eyes and dark hair who had spent most of the night before giving the other girls in their dorm makeovers; and when she had asked Tonks' if she wanted a makeover, Tonks made the mistake of explaining her ability to change her appearance at will. This caused Madison to decide on the spot that they were destined to become best friends, and Tonks found this annoying.

"Aren't we lucky that the first of September fell on a Friday this year?" Madison asked brightly once she had caught up with Tonks. "We have two whole days to find our way around the castle before our classes start up!"

"One whole day," Tonks corrected. "Seeing as we'll be spending most of today at the meet and greet games."

Jolanda, the Head Girl, had decided to increase inter-house cooperation by having a day dedicated to the first years getting to know one another. She had reserved the classroom across from the Great Hall for this purpose, and Tonks and Madison were just approaching this classroom when they heard a shout across the hall.

"TONKS!!!"

Tonks spun around just in time to see a flash of red before Charlie Weasley crashed into her, forcing her to lose her footing and sending them both tumbling to the floor.

"He's like a puppy," a blonde boy commented, coming up to them and staring at them in amusement. Madison just looked confused as she glanced between Charlie on the floor and the new blonde boy.

"Um, Tonks, who are these people?" Madison asked.

"Max!" the blonde boy exclaimed, noticing Madison for the first time. He smiled broadly at her and Tonks noticed that he had a dorky, yet adorable, smile.

"Madison," Madison introduced with slightly less enthusiasm.

"Tonks," Tonks piped in from the floor.

"CHARLIE!" Charlie all but yelled, raising his hands above his head.

"It's nice to meet you ladies," Max said, extending his hand to help Charlie up. Madison immediately scurried around the boys to help Tonks up.

"Oy! You four! Get your little butts over here!" Jolanda called out, poking her head out of the classroom.

The four of them entered the classroom to see about fifty other first years clustered around.

"Go write your names on a nametag," Jolanda instructed, pointing to a small table that had "Hello! My name is" nametags and markers on it.

Tonks wrote "Tonks" on her nametag with a pink marker. Max picked up a blue marker and wrote his name on his nametag and stuck it on his shirt. Charlie immediately grabbed the blue marker from Max and added "xie-poo" to Max's name so that his nametag read "Hello! My name is Maxxie-poo." Max glared at him and snatched the marker back to cross out what Charlie had added. Laughing, Charlie snatched Madison's green marker away as she was writing and wrote "Charlie" on his own nametag.

"Hey, I wasn't finished!" Madison exclaimed as Charlie threw the marker back down on the table and Jolanda banished the table and its contents. Madison's nametag read "Hello! My name is Mad."

"Okay everyone!" Jolanda called out, walking to the front of the room. "The first game we're going to play is bump butts with everyone who shares your birth month! So find people who are born in the same month you are and bump butts with them!"

"December?" Charlie asked almost frantically, turning towards Tonks, his eyes wide and his hands clasped in front of him.

"October," Tonks replied, shaking her head.

"October!" Max exclaimed, high-fiving Tonks before bumping butts with her.

"December?" Charlie asked Madison in the same frantic manner he did Tonks.

"May," Madison replied, glancing over Charlie to stare at Max and Tonks happily bumping butts and exclaiming "October!" on each bump.

"Damn!" Charlie swore before scurrying off to a nearby group of kids who were bumping butts. "December?" he asked them.

There was a rather large group of kids on the other side of the room exclaiming "May!" as they bumped into one another, and Madison happily scurried over to join them.

A boy walked up to Max and Tonks. "October?" he asked them, gazing forlornly at Max.

"Yeah, Corey! October!" Max exclaimed, jumping forward and bumping butts with the boy. Tonks took a moment to seek out Charlie and laughed when she spotted him between two very burly boys who were bumping him with such a force that he looked like a pinball bouncing between the two.

"Okay, go dance with everyone who's wearing the same color shirt as you!" Jolanda called from the front of the classroom.

"Why did you have to wear pink today, Tonks!?" Charlie called out as he ran past her to join the conga line of white-shirted eleven-year-olds.

"Tonks!" Madison called out happily, running up to her fellow pink-clad friend and hugging her. Tonks couldn't help but smile as they pulled apart and started swing dancing (or at least attempting to) together.

Max joined a small group of black-clad students in a corner. The others were merely bobbing their heads, their longish hair falling into their eyes as they did so; Max stared at them oddly for a moment before breaking out in a tap dance.

"Okay, now everyone who likes pizza more than cheeseburgers, go hug one anther on that side of the classroom, while everyone who likes cheeseburgers more than pizza hug each other on that side of the classroom!"

-

Bill gazed into the classroom to see his younger brother surrounded by a group of kids, all of whom were attempting a giant group hug.

"I don't even know what these foods are!" Charlie exclaimed with delight, causing Bill to raise an eyebrow in confusion. What exactly were they doing in there?

He sighed and turned away from the room. With his brother preoccupied, Bill had two options left: he could either return to the common room and read ahead in his classes, or go find Mick, who appeared to have gotten lost the night before. Seeing as he was already ahead in his classes, Bill decided to go find Mick.

He ascended the grand staircase and stopped. Mick had said that his destination was the Ravenclaw common room, but that didn't mean that he was anywhere near there. For all Bill knew, Mick could have been on the astronomy tower all night.

Bill sighed and scratched the back of his neck, trying to figure out where to start in his search for Mick. There was a tingling sensation all along the right side of Bill's torso as if his sixth sense was trying to get him to go right. Bill went left, just to spite the sensation, but the further away he walked, the more intense the sensation became, until he finally gave up and retraced his steps back to the grand staircase, where he ended up going right and taking a hidden staircase to the forth floor. There, at the base of a suit of armor, was Mick, fast asleep.

"Mick!" Bill said loudly, nudging the boy with his foot. "Mick, wake up, mate!"

"CELESTINA WARBECK!" Mick exclaimed loudly, coming out his sleep and shooting up into a sitting position.

"What the hell, Mick?" Bill asked, giving his friend an odd look. "Please don't tell me that you listen to that rubbish."

"My mum does," Mick replied sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "Where the hell am I?"

"Somewhere on the fourth floor," Bill replied, helping his friend up. "Did you find the Ravenclaw common room?"

"No, but I found the Slytherin common room," Mick replied, gesturing down at his robes, which were covered with an assortment of food, ink and dungbombs.

Bill wrinkled his nose. "Did you honestly think that the Ravenclaw common room was in the dungeons?" he asked.

Mick shrugged, his eyes locking onto something behind Bill. "Hey, Athena."

Bill spun around so quickly that he nearly fell over in the process and had to grab a hold of Mick to steady himself. Sure enough, Athena was standing behind him, holding a big book to her chest.

"Hey," she greeted, offering Bill a slight smile before she got a good look at Mick, her eyes widening slightly. "Wow, Mick, you look dirty."

"You have no idea," Mick replied with a smirk. Bill hit him upside the head. "What can we do for you, Athena?" Mick asked.

"I was just wondering if you've read ahead in Charms?" she asked, gazing at Bill.

Bill opened his mouth to reply but found that he had somehow managed to lose his voice; therefore, he merely nodded dumbly.

"Well, I've been having some problems with some of the Charms, so I was wondering if maybe you could tutor me? I know how good you are at them."

Bill nodded dumbly again.

"Great!" Athena smiled. "Fridays after class good for you?"

This time Bill couldn't even nod. All he seemed to be able to do was stare at her with his mouth open.

"Fridays after class are great for him!" Mick answered, slapping Bill on the back.

"Cool! Well, I'll see you guys in class!" Athena stated, little splotches of blush erupting on her cheeks as she turned around and walked away.

Mick turned and looked at Bill. "You've got to work on your approach, mate."

-

"So this triangular thing is a pizza, eh?" Charlie asked, holding the food in question in front of his face. The meet and greet games had ended for lunch, which was being held outside and consisted of Muggle food.

"Yeah," Madison replied. "And that's a cheeseburger, those are chips and that's a Coke," she added, pointing to each of his foods. "I'm Muggleborn," she added brightly, as though she felt that she needed to explain why she knew Muggle food so well.

"I'm back. Did you guys get my food?" Max joined them, attempting to conceal a blood bag in his hand but failing miserably.

"What's that?" Madison asked, knitting her brow in confusion and nodding at the blood bag that sat between Max and Charlie. Max blushed.

"Max is a vampire," Charlie stated nonchalantly through a mouthful of food. The girls' eyes widened considerably, but neither of them screamed or ran away. Seeing this as a good sign, Max filled them in on his vampirism.

"Well that's kind of cool," Madison admitted after Max was finished.

"What is?" Bill asked, sitting down by Tonks with his own food. Another boy whom Charlie didn't know sat next to Bill. "I love Muggle Awareness Day," Bill added, shoving some chips into his mouth. "But seriously, what's cool?"

"I'm a vampire," Max replied.

"Cool," Bill agreed, nodding while he picked up his pizza. "Tonks here is a Metamorphmagus," he added, jerking his head towards Tonks. Tonks blushed.

"William, who are these children?" the boy next to Bill asked.

"Oh, sorry, Mick. That's my brother Charlie," Bill introduced, pointing to Charlie, who smiled through a mouthful of food. "Charles, close your mouth; no one wants to see that!" Bill reprimanded before turning to Tonks. "And this is Nymphadora Tonks. She'd rather be called just Tonks, but I sometimes like to call her Nymphadora to piss her off. And…" Bill stopped short at the other two. "I have no idea who these two are."

"Max."

"Madison."

"Mick!" Mick exclaimed, raising a hand to high five the other two. "Names that begin with M are so cool!"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "So Bill, do you know that this triangular thing is called a pizza?" he asked, but Bill didn't seem to hear him; the older boy's eyes were gazing at something over Charlie's shoulder. Charlie turned and saw that a group of girls were sitting just a little ways off from them.

"Bill only has eyes for Athena this year, it seems," Mick commented through a mouthful of food.

"Athena?" Charlie asked, facing the older boy with a questioning look. "Who's Athena?"

"No one," Bill replied quickly, a blush flushing his cheeks as he stared adamantly at his pizza. Tonks and Madison exchanged smiles.

"Bill wants to do naughty things with her," Mick supplied, causing the girls and Max to giggle into their food.

"Is that so?" Charlie asked, glancing over his shoulder once again. "Well then I've got to meet her."

"What? No!" Bill exclaimed suddenly, jumping over the food and tackling Charlie to the ground just as he began to walk over.

"What the fuck, Bill?" Charlie exclaimed loudly as the older boy wrestled him on the ground.

"Watch your language!" Bill ordered, pining Charlie's hands down.

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen," Charlie commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes before head-butting Bill. Bill rolled over onto his back and Charlie immediately grabbed the front of his T-shirt and punched him in the face. Bill retaliated by punching him back.

"Stop it, you gits!" Tonks suddenly exclaimed, rushing over to them and attempting to pull Bill off of Charlie. Charlie aimed a punch at Bill, but Bill ducked and Charlie's fist collided with Tonk's lip, sending her flying backwards.

"Tonks!" Charlie yelled, his eyes wide and his guard down, allowing Bill to give him one last good punch in the gut.

"What is going on here?" The two boys looked up to see McGonagall standing over them, her nostrils flaring in anger like a raging bull. "Mr. Weasley! I am disappointed in you! You never behaved in such a way last year!"

"I didn't have a brother here last year," Bill explained, sitting up and healing his bruises with a charm.

"Nevertheless you'll both be seeing me in detention tomorrow evening. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," both boys said as McGonagall turned on her heel and stalked off.

"Twat," Bill called Charlie softly. He began walking back to the castle.

"Wait, Bill!" Mick called out, running up to his friend. "The girl?" The boys turned to find Max and Madison handing Tonks napkins to stop her lip from bleeding. Bill sighed and went up to Tonks, gently lifting her chin with his hand.

"Hold still, luv," he said, performing the charm on her busted lip.

"Tonks, I'm so sorry," Charlie apologized as her cut healed. "I didn't mean to hit you!"

Tonks gazed at both Bill and Charlie with wide, hurt eyes. "You're brothers," she said. "Why do you fight?"

"That wasn't fighting," Bill explained, bringing his wand to heal Charlie's bruised face, but the younger boy slapped the wand away. "That was roughhousing," Bill continued, shrugging at Charlie's rejection. "You don't want to see us when we fight." And with that, he turned and headed back up to the school.

-

Bill set down his quill and gazed proudly at the one hundred and fifty lines of "I love my brother; I will not beat him into a pulp on school premises" that he had just scratched onto a piece of parchment in record time.

"Professor McGonagall, I'm done," he said, raising his hand as if he were in class and waving the parchment as if it were a flag.

Professor McGonagall looked up from her desk, her mouth a thin line. "Very well, Mr. Weasley. You may hand in your lines and return to your common room," she informed, indicating to Bill where to set the parchment before returning to her own writing.

Charlie glared at Bill as he walked up between the desks in the Transfiguration classroom and disposed of his parchment.

"I trust that you will refrain from punching your brother again, William?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Bill replied.

"I won't punch my brother anymore either," Charlie piped in from the back of the classroom. "May I leave now too?"

McGonagall eyed the younger boy suspiciously. "Not until you finish your lines, Mr. Weasley."

Charlie scowled. "You couldn't possibly _want_ to spend your Sunday evening in detention with me, Professor McGonagall!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure you have much more interesting things to do and people to see. As a matter of fact, I thought I saw Professor Dumbledore gazing longingly at you across the staff table this morning; surely you would rather have a cup of tea with him instead of sitting in this stuffy classroom with…"

"Mr. Weasley, you will refrain from speaking for the rest of your detention, otherwise you shall find yourself in detention next Sunday as well," McGonagall scolded, though her mouth was pulled into a taut smile. "You, on the other hand," she continued, glancing at Bill, "may leave."

"Thank you, Professor," Bill said, turning to walk back to the door and slapping Charlie softly upside the head as he passed him.

He had been walking the deserted corridors for several minutes when he suddenly crashed into someone upon rounding a corner.

"Sorry," Bill immediately said, steadying himself. He was about to ask the other person if he or she was okay when he looked up and realized just who that other person was.

"Bill!" Athena stated brightly. "Did you just get out of detention?"

Bill giggled stupidly as a reply, feeling very much like an idiot as he did so.

Athena stared at him, a small smile playing across her features. Her blue eyes suddenly slid from Bill to someone standing next to Bill. "Is this your brother?" she asked.

Bill glanced to his side to see Charlie standing there, gazing at Athena politely, his hands in his pockets.

"Er…yeah," Bill replied, happy that he had managed to actually use his voice. "This is Charlie. Charlie, this is Athena."

For a split second, Bill feared that his younger brother would embarrass him, but Charlie merely smiled politely and said hello.

"You two don't look a lot a like," Athena rambled quickly.

"Huh?" both Bill and Charlie replied, gazing quizzically at one another.

"Well, I mean…you both have the ginger hair and everything, but yours is straight," she explained, pointing to Bill. "And yours is curly. You have blue eyes and you have brown, and…"

"Which do you prefer?" Charlie asked suddenly.

"Pardon?" Athena replied.

"Blue eyes or brown?"

Athena appeared to be taken off guard. "Well, blue actually…"

Bill immediately launched into another round of stupid giggling, running a hand through his hair as he did so. Athena blushed and looked down at her feet.

"…Cute," Charlie commented, gazing between the two of them. "Well, I'll see you in the common room, Bill. It was nice meeting you, Athena."

"You too!" Athena replied brightly as Charlie walked past her. Once he was completely behind her, Charlie spun around and gave Bill a large smile and two thumbs up, causing Bill to blush.

"He's nice," Athena said, gracing Bill with a smile.

"Yeah, sometimes," Bill agreed, once again thankful for his ability to talk. He scratched the back of his neck in an embarrassed fashion, not quite knowing what else to say.

"So…are we still on for tutoring sessions on Friday?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

"Great!" She smiled once again. "I guess I'll see you later then."

Bill nodded. "Yeah. Later."

Athena side-stepped him and continued on her way, leaving Bill standing dumbly in the corridor, as if he forgot how to use his feet.

---

**End Author's Note:** I know I said in the last chapter that I wouldn't update this chapter until Christmas, and I did mean it when I said it, but now that I'm finally sharing this story, I can't help myself. I'm literally fighting myself from posting all the chapters that I already have written. Plus, I'm still in the middle of finals week, so I'm half asleep and kind of delusional at the moment. Um, as a random note, I found out that Tonks was in Hufflepuff shortly before I started writing this chapter. At first I was like, "NOOOOO!" but now I like the fact that she's in Hufflepuff. Makes it more interesting. (She was almost in Gryffindor with the boys.)


	4. Like a Friend

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Three**  
_Like a Friend_

-

Excluding the low hiss of hushed whispers, the library was immensely quiet. The late afternoon sunshine of early October was streaming in through the high windows and warming the table where Tonks was currently sitting, her face screwed up in contemplation as she nudged the paper clip with her wand. The paper clip twisted in such a way that it looked as though it was having a seizure, but other than that, it didn't do anything worthwhile. It sure as hell didn't turn into a pencil, which is what Tonks had been trying to get it to do for the past half an hour.

Sighing with frustration, Tonks set her wand down and pulled at the knot in her tie until the garment was off and she was able to unbutton the top button of her uniform and breathe easier. She then used the tie to pull back her hair – that was shoulder-length and dark brown that day – into a high, messy ponytail.

Feeling slightly more comfortable, Tonks picked up her wand once again, held it over the paper clip and opened her mouth to say the incantation…

"TONKS!"

Tonks' wand went flying, hitting the back of a Ravenclaw girl's head. The girl in question turned around and sent Tonks a quizzical glare before handing the wand back. At that moment, Charlie Weasley appeared at the table, flushed from running and out of breath.

"Tonks!" he stated, no longer yelling, but not exactly whispering either. "Tonks, we need your… Nice use of uniform!" he complimented suddenly, his face changing from one of urgency to one of admiration as he nodded at the tie in her hair.

"Cheers," Tonks whispered, raising a questioning eyebrow at her friend. What could possibly be so important that Charlie had to rush into the library like a rampaging hippogriff?

"Anyway," Charlie went on, waving a hand and shaking his head, "we need your help. Well, Bill does. Mick does not pass for a girl!"

"Huh?" Tonks asked, shoving her wand into her bag.

"Never mind, you'll see when you get there," Charlie replied, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the library.

"Get where?" Tonks asked as the two rushed down the corridors. "Why is Mick trying to pass for a girl? Does he need a makeover? Madison's the one who does the makeovers!"

Charlie didn't reply; instead, he led her into a classroom where they found a disgusted-looking Bill and a Quidditch robe-clad Mick. Mick appeared to be swooning in an overly girly fashion, batting his eyelashes and exclaiming in a very high voice, "Why, yes, William, I would love to go to the Quidditch match with you! HeeHee!"

"What the hell?" Tonks asked, gazing in horror at the two.

"See! We need you!" Charlie exclaimed by her side, flailing his arms dramatically.

"Charlie, I don't think I can make Mick look like a girl!" Tonks tried to reason, eyeing Mick's burly frame and wind-swept, black hair. "I mean, he looks like he's one growth spurt away from sprouting facial hair!"

Mick preened himself proudly.

"That's why we need you, Tonks!" Charlie explained, taking her hand and leading her over so that she was standing in front of Bill. The older Weasley boy looked rumpled and grumpy: his shirt was not tucked in, his tie was loose, his hair was standing on end, and a vein under his right eye was throbbing. "Bill needs practice asking out girls," Charlie continued.

"Oh," Tonks replied softly, everything starting to make sense to her. "Well, I guess I could help," she offered, somewhat unsure of what exactly she was supposed to do.

"Great!" Charlie exclaimed, turning towards Bill. "Have at it, mate!"

Bill crossed his arms and gazed at Tonks steadily. "You wanna go to the Quidditch match with me on Saturday?" he asked, seeming quite at ease.

"Sure," Tonks replied, shrugging her shoulder. Really, he wasn't that bad at asking out girls.

"No! No! No!" Charlie exclaimed, flailing his arms once more. "Bill you've got to pretend she's Athena!"

"It's no use!" Bill retaliated, leaning back against a desk. "She's Tonks, and I know she's Tonks, and I can talk to Tonks just fine!"

"Then allow me to debrief you on this wonderful plan of mine!" Charlie said loudly, as if he were talking to a petulant child. "Pretend she's Athena!"

Bill stared at Charlie blankly. "You haven't been listening to a single word I've said, have you?"

"Well, maybe this will help," Tonks said, shrugging off her Hufflepuff robes and yanking the yellow and black tie from her hair. "Athena's a few inches taller than me, right? Brown hair, kinda frizzy, blue eyes and some freckles, right?"

The others nodded, gracing Tonks with confused stares that slowly melted into realization as Tonks altered her features to look like Athena.

"I dunno whether that's cool or creepy," Mick announced. He was now sitting casually on a nearby desk, staring at Tonks with wide eyes.

Tonks shrugged, feeling a blush cross her features. She gazed down at her feet before slowly bringing her eyes to look at Bill. He was staring at her with the same enthralled look that Mick was, and Tonks realized that he had never actually seen her change before his eyes.

"Thanks for trying, Tonks, but it won't do any good," Bill said, shaking his head as if coming out of a trance.

Tonks' hand immediately went to her face, inspecting her nose. "Did I not get her facial features right, or something?" she asked.

"It's not that," Bill explained, a blush forming across his visage. He seemed highly ill at ease. "It's just…you have a much different aura than Athena does. I can't pretend it's not you."

Charlie stared at Bill blankly. "Bill, you're my older brother, and I love you, but I don't know what the hell you're on about half the time."

Bill sighed in frustration. "Look!" he said, running his hands through his hair. "You know that feeling you get around people? Like when you meet someone for the very first time, and you can kind of sense whether or not they're going to be fun to hang around with or a creep?"

Charlie and Mick shook their heads, but Tonks nodded slowly. "Kind of," she replied. "Like I immediately liked your mum when I met her this summer. She felt…warm."

Bill nodded. "Yes, exactly. Well, most peoples' auras are similar, some more pleasant than others, but still similar. But some people have really strong auras. Tonks does, and Max does too. I'm assuming because of their special abilities. Dumbledore has a strong one too, but that's probably because he's really powerful."

"So you…like…feel people up mentally?" Mick asked slowly, his face clouded with confusion.

"Bill, that's disgusting!" Charlie reprimanded playfully.

Bill sighed, his shoulders sagging as if he just didn't have the strength to put up with the two of them.

"I get what you're saying, Bill," Tonks comforted, tying her tie back into her hair and shrugging back into her Hufflepuff robes as she returned to her normal height and facial features. She slung her bag over her shoulder.

"See!" Bill stated, waving a hand at Tonks, "she feels auras too!"

"I didn't say that," Tonks replied with a smile. "I don't sense people like that; at least not to the extent you do."

"See, Bill? You're a freak," Charlie teased. Bill glared at him.

"We still love you though," Tonks said reassuringly, patting Bill on the arm before turning on her heel and heading towards the classroom door. "I'm going to dinner. You lot coming?"

There was a murmur of consent and a rustle of clothes as the boys followed her out of the room. Tonks continued to walk ahead of them, her mind partially aware of the fact that she was of no help to Bill in his quest to learn just how to ask girls out; he'd be on his own whenever he plucked up enough courage to actually do it. She was contemplating seeking Madison for advice for Bill when everything suddenly went black.

"Oy!" she stated loudly, realizing that someone had pulled the hood of her robes over her face. She pushed the hood back to see Bill standing playfully in front of her, his smile pulling to one corner impishly.

"You are so going to get it!" she told him just as he took off running in front of her. She followed him and managed to throw herself upon his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Bill immediately brought his hands behind him, locking them together under her so that he could support her easily while they made their way down the hall.

"Oy! Bill! You never give me piggy-back rides!" Charlie called after them. He and Mick were still a short distance behind them, walking slowly.

"That's because I don't like you," Bill explained, turning to face his brother and friend, walking backwards as he did so.

"You lie!" Charlie shot back, feigning shock.

"Nope," Bill replied as they entered the Great Hall. "I've hated you since the day you were born." Bill walked up to the Hufflepuff table and turned, releasing his hold on Tonks. Tonks slipped slightly until her feet met the bench. Once she was stable, she took her hands off of Bill's shoulders.

"Giving out free piggy-back rides, Bill?"

Bill and Tonks looked down to see Madison and Max sitting at the Hufflepuff table, eating dinner.

"Eating with the Hufflepuffs, Max?" Bill retaliated just as Charlie and Mick approached the table. Charlie immediately sat by Max as if he normally sat at the Hufflepuff table for dinner.

"I didn't want to eat by myself and had no idea where you guys were," Max replied, shrugging.

"Whatever. Pass the potatoes," Mick joined in, also sitting down at the Hufflepuff table despite the fact that his Quidditch robes literally screamed Gryffindor.

Bill was the only one still standing; he glanced down the table dubiously, noting a few confused glares from other Hufflepuffs who didn't seem to appreciate the intrusion. One Gryffindor eating at their table was fine, but to welcome over the entire posse was a different story completely.

"YES, THAT'S RIGHT, INTERHOUSE COMRADERY!" Jolanda shouted loudly, springing up from seemingly nowhere. She pushed Bill onto the bench with so much force that he crashed into Mick.

"Potatoes?" Mick asked.

-

"No, no, you have to flick your wand a bit more at the end. Watch." Bill waved his wand in front of him in a sweeping arch, saying the incantation properly and finishing with the proper flick. He gave a satisfied smile as the overturned chair righted itself.

"Oh, wow, Bill! That's amazing!" Athena praised, her eyes wide.

Bill smiled so widely that his face hurt, and he immediately started twirling his wand with his fingers – only to have it fumble to the ground. It was the third time he dropped his wand that night. Blushing, he immediately scooped his wand back up from the floor, his eyes searching for Athena, who didn't seem to notice his predicament seeing as she was now focused completely on practicing the charm herself.

Sighing with relief, Bill went to the other side of the room and sat upon a desk that was next to the tapestry of Barney the Barmy. He leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself down. Their tutoring lesson was almost over and if he didn't pluck up enough courage to ask her out, he'd have to face the ridicule of Mick and Charlie.

"Psst!"

Bill's eyes snapped open. He slowly turned his head to the left, eyeing Barney's tapestry suspiciously. Suddenly, there was a flutter of cloth and two heads poked out from behind the tapestry.

"Charlie! Nymphadora! Get out of here!" Bill whispered frantically, his eyes shooting between the two eleven-year-olds and a still preoccupied Athena.

"I must say, William, that you are behaving quite dastardly!" Charlie whispered back in an overly posh accent. Bill immediately sent Tonks a questioning look.

"Don't ask me; I don't know," she replied, shaking her head. "But, honestly, when are you going to ask her? The suspense is killing me!"

"I'm not a form of entertainment!" Bill hissed back.

"No, you, old chap, are dastardly!" Charlie replied, still using his posh accent. Bill glared at him vindictively.

"Shut it, Charlie!" he snapped. "You've never asked a girl out, so you have no idea what it's like!"

Charlie appeared taken aback for a moment, his mouth opening and closing like a guppy; but then his countenance calmed and he turned towards Tonks, gracing her with his most alluring smile.

"My dearest Tonks," he said, strategically placing a hand upon her arm. "Would you do the honor of escorting me to the Quidditch match on the morrow?"

Tonks' eyes immediately widened and looked past Charlie's shoulder at Bill. She looked utterly shocked and scared in that moment, and that was when Bill realized something that Tonks had been unconsciously hinting at for the past two months: she had a crush on his brother.

"Charlie, stop messing around," Tonks replied softly, her eyes falling to her feet as she brushed Charlie's hand off of her arm.

Charlie blinked rapidly for a moment before shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the stone wall. "I'm not messing around, Tonks," he said softly, dropping his pompous air and returning to his normal accent. "I really want you to come to the Quidditch match with me."

Tonks stared at him as one of her hands fiddled nervously with her bracelets. "Seriously?" she whispered.

Charlie made a face as though he couldn't understand why Tonks was acting so strange all of the sudden. "Yes, I seriously want you to come to the Quidditch match with me."

There was another long pause in which Bill was fairly certain he could see Tonks' heart beating rapidly, and then…

"Okay." Her voice creaked when she said it, but a smile was forming on her face.

Charlie turned triumphantly back to Bill. "See, mate, that wasn't so hard!" he said. Bill ignored his brother's comment, choosing instead to eye Tonks quizzically. He had a sinking suspicion that she and Charlie had different ideas of what this Quidditch outing entailed, and he felt as though he should say something, but he didn't know what and was quite frankly tired of the whole thing.

Pushing the two eleven-year-olds so that they were completely hidden by the tapestry once more, Bill hopped off of the desk and strutted forward in what he hoped was a manly way to Athena.

"Hey, Athena," he called out as he was walking; however, his call merely distracted her, and her charm missed the overturned chair and hit Bill instead, sending him from standing upright to lying flat on his back on the ground.

"Oh my gosh! Bill! Are you okay?" Athena asked, running over to kneel by him and gazing at him with concern.

Bill opened his mouth to tell her he was fine; however, the fall had knocked the wind from him and all that emitted from his mouth was a choked gasp that didn't sound very manly at all.

"Bill! Say something!" Athena squealed above him.

"Do you…do you wanna go to the Quidditch match with me tomorrow?" Bill concluded this question with a painful gasp of air as his lungs continued to fill up, followed by a pathetic groan of, "Oh God!"

This appeared to be the last thing Athena expected him to say. Her mouth gaped open as she blinked rapidly. "I…um…okay," she said at last.

"Yeah?" Bill asked, managing to raise himself slightly onto his elbows. He winced as a spasm of pain shot through his chest.

"Yeah," Athena nodded. "Um, do you need help getting up?"

Bill blushed furiously.

"No, I'm fine," he replied. Then, as if to prove he was fine, he stood up and brushed himself off.

Athena stood as well, toying with her wand nervously. "Okay then. Um…what time should I meet you in the Great Hall tomorrow?"

"Half past ten," Bill replied quickly. It was suddenly hitting him that she had said yes, and he felt a great urge to run through the halls, whooping with joy.

"Right," Athena said, keeping her eyes down as her hands continued to fiddle with her wand. "I'll see you then," she stated quickly, grabbing her bag and flashing him the briefest of smiles before disappearing from the room.

As soon as she was gone, Bill punched the air triumphantly and rushed over to Barney the Barney, pulling the tapestry back in order to grin at Tonks and Charlie; however, all that hid behind Barney was a small hole that undoubtedly led to a hidden corridor. Bill frowned and scratched the back of his neck. Now where the hell did they go?

-

Tonks was the prettiest girl at Hogwarts, and she knew it. Her hair was long – just past her shoulders – and perfectly straight and blond. Not only that, but it possessed a shine that no conditioner, Wizard or Muggle, could achieve. Her eyes were large and a deep turquoise, rimmed with jet back, long lashes. Her ivory skin was immaculate. And she was dressed in Madison's clothes: a short, black knit dress that had an empire waist, crossover bust and long sleeves, grey leggings and black boots.

"Have fun today," Madison said, squeezing Tonks' hand before breaking away to join a group of Hufflepuffs heading down to the pitch.

Tonks smiled at her and scanned the crowd for Charlie. She found a head of red hair and skipped over, stopping short when she saw that it was Bill, who was accompanied by Athena.

"Oh, sorry," Tonks apologized, coming up to them. "Wrong Weasley. Have you seen your brother?"

Bill stared at her, his mouth agape as he pointed to his left.

"Cheers, Bill," Tonks thanked. She began to skip off in the direction that Bill pointed, only to have someone grab her arm.

"Tonks, there's something I have to tell you," Bill said urgently.

Tonks quirked an eyebrow at him. "Catch me after the match then. Don't leave your girlfriend waiting, William; it's rude."

"No, Tonks, listen!" Bill said, his grip on her arm tightening. "I don't think Charlie sees this as a date. The idiot doesn't even know what a proper date is!"

The grounds were quickly emptying as everyone filled the stands. The match was about to begin, and while Tonks felt an urgent rush to dismiss Bill and what he was saying, a part of her kept her rooted to the spot.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at Bill. "Charlie asked me out!"

"He asked his friend, Tonks, to watch a Quidditch game with him," Bill explained. "He didn't ask his girlfriend, Nymphadora, to cuddle in the stands."

Tonks yanked back her arm, glaring at Bill vindictively. "Don't call me Nymphadora!" she said before turning on her heel and stalking off towards the stands.

It felt slightly surreal, walking through a sea of red and gold Gryffindors. The match had already started and shouts of "Let's go, Gryffindor!" surrounded her, drowning out her own voice as she called for Charlie. She finally found him in the front, clad completely in red and gold and jumping up and down in the stands with a group of boys, Max among them.

"Hey, Charlie!" Tonks yelled, almost in the boy's ear.

He turned to face her. "TONKS! YOU MADE IT!" he shouted before turning his full attention back on the match. "GO GRYFFINDOR!" he yelled, throwing an arm around a cheering Max.

Tonks felt a pang in her chest over Charlie's lack of attention. She took in a shaky breath and attempted to smile, leaning against the stands and watching the game. She even managed to meekly shout out "Go Gryffindor!" despite the fact that they were playing against Hufflepuff; yet even her cheer did not attract Charlie's attention.

She tentatively reached out her hand to take hold of Charlie's arm, but Charlie was pulled into a group hug, completely enclosed by the other boys, leaving her hand to linger in the air. A few minutes later, the group of boys managed to wander farther down in the stands, and Tonks found herself being jostled by a group of older, unknown Gryffindors, completely alone.

-

"I really had fun today, Bill."

Bill looked up from his shoes to raise a skeptical eyebrow at Athena. The game itself had been exciting, but Athena wouldn't have known that; she had pulled a book out of her bag within five minutes of them settling into the stands. Bill guessed she just wasn't a sports fan. He himself didn't get to enjoy the match completely; he could see a dejected Tonks surrounded by rowdy sixth years from where he sat.

"So…the Ravenclaw common room is over that way, eh?" he asked, glancing down the corridor.

"Yeah," Athena replied, following his gaze. "Well, I'm sure Gryffindor is having a party that you need to get to, so I'll just…" she trailed off, indicating the direction of her common room.

"Yeah, okay," Bill replied. Athena stayed rooted to her spot, grinning shyly up at Bill, and he suddenly wondered if she expected him to kiss her or something.

He leaned in but lost his nerve at the last moment, tilting his head to the side and planting a wet kiss upon her cheek.

_Smooth, Weasley. Real smooth._

He pulled back, blushing furiously.

"I'll see you in class," Athena said rather brightly, and Bill couldn't help but notice that she was wiping her cheek with her hand.

_Great! Now she's going to think that I've got a slobbering problem!_

Athena didn't say anything about his lack of kissing skills though; she merely turned on her heel and trotted off down the corridor, gracing Bill with a small smile as she rounded the corner.

"Yeah, see you." Bill sighed and ran a hand through his hair as she disappeared.

"Psst!"

Bill whipped his head around and looked at the nearby statue of Jeremy the Jolly oddly. He was about to convince himself that he was hearing things when Tonks appeared from behind the statue. She was still dressed in the black dress and had blond hair and turquoise eyes, but now gigantic tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Oh, Tonks," Bill sighed, holding out his arms. Tonks launched herself into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his chest, soaking his sweater with her tears.

"He…didn't even…notice…how pretty…I looked," she explained between heaving sobs.

"I know, Tonks," Bill said softly. He had to bite his lip to keep from saying, _'I told you so.'_

"You know what you need?" he asked, carefully inching her along the corridor.

"What?" she sniffled, her face still buried within his sweater.

"You need some ice cream," Bill finished. He was quite sure that he heard somewhere that distraught women liked ice cream. Tonks wasn't a woman yet, but she was female so it was basically the same thing.

"We missed dinner," Tonks whined. Her tears were now soaking through Bill's sweater; the chill of them reached the bare skin of his stomach, and he sucked it in on impulse.

"Tonks, Tonks, Tonks, how little you know about Hogwarts," he scolded playfully. "We can get into the kitchens. And we can do it much faster if you weren't clinging to me."

Tonks pulled away, sniffling loudly and wiping her eyes upon her sleeves. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't worry about it," Bill comforted, throwing an arm around her small shoulders and walking briskly down the stairs. "The kitchens are actually right next to the Hufflepuff common room; I'm surprised you didn't know that, Tonks."

The girl shrugged, sniffling loudly once more. Several minutes later, Bill found himself leading Tonks into the kitchen; he smiled as Tonks' eyes widened at the sight of hundreds of house elves preparing food.

"This girl needs ice cream and a tissue!" Bill exclaimed loudly and was pleased when a house elf came scurrying forward within moments, a glass cup of vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top in one hand and a tissue in the other. Bill thanked the elf and handed Tonks the tissue while he led her over to a secluded spot by the fireplace and sat down. She settled beside him and the house elf returned, giving them each a spoon.

"Thanks, Bill," Tonks said as she dipped her spoon into the ice cream.

"It's alright," Bill replied. "I know I'm awesome."

Tonks snorted as she brought another spoonful of ice cream to her lips.

"Listen, Tonks," Bill said after a moment of eating silently. "Don't take what Charlie did today too seriously. He…he's not really into girls yet. He's more likely to kiss a frog than a girl. Actually…I think he has kissed a frog before," Bill admitted, remembering a sun-filled afternoon the two brothers had spent out by the pond.

Tonks sighed, her shoulders sagging as she licked her spoon. "I know," she said. "I…just had this idea in my head, and I kind of latched onto this vision of me and him together. I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted to _be_ perfect. For him."

Bill stared at her dejected frame for a moment, contemplating what to say next.

"For what it's worth, I thought you looked pretty today," he admitted, bringing his thumb to wipe the tear that was sliding down Tonks' cheek. "But I also thought you didn't look like you," he added when Tonks directed her turquoise stare at him. "You kind of look like a doll that Madison dressed up."

Tonks looked down at herself. "These are Madison's clothes, but I asked her if I could borrow them. I didn't pack any of my own girly clothes from home."

"_You_ have girly clothes!?"

Tonks quirked an eyebrow and sent a smirk his way. "Do you know who my mother is, Bill?" she asked him. "She lives for fashion, and only the best. Madame Malkins for Wizarding robes, and Chanel for Muggle wear. So I do know a thing or two about fashion, and just because I prefer to wear mismatched clothes, doesn't mean I can't dress myself properly when I want to."

Bill smiled and nudged the cherry to Tonks' side of the cup. "See, this is why we like you, Tonks," he said happily. "You're full of surprises."

Tonks returned the smile and used her spoon to cut the cherry in half, nudging one half towards Bill while eating the other half herself.

"You're pretty alright yourself, Weasley."

-

"Tonks! There you are!"

Tonks and Madison, who were on their way to Transfiguration, stopped walking and turned to see Charlie approaching them.

"Hey, Mad," he greeted brightly once he caught up with them, gracing Madison with a half smile. "Nice hair, Tonks," he added, nodding at her pink locks.

_Now he notices!_

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Do you want something, Charlie?" she asked politely.

"Yeah, first of all," Charlie turned towards Madison, "Max asked me to give this to you," he said, handing the brunette girl a folded piece of parchment. "He wrote it in History of Magic. I read it over his shoulder. It's very boring."

Madison blushed and turned to her side, opening the note and ignoring Charlie.

"And I wanted to apologize to you about Saturday, Tonks," Charlie said.

Tonks felt her cheeks burn with blush. "S'ok, Charlie."

"No, it's not," Charlie replied. "I didn't even realize you were missing until after the match was over. Then Max gave me hell about it. Even though he lost you too." Charlie rolled his eyes.

Tonks was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she'd either yell at him for being daft or break out into tears, so she kept her mouth closed and stared fixatedly at a spot in front of her.

"But don't worry," Charlie continued. "I'll tie our wrists together for the next match or something. You're my best mate; I don't want to lose you!" And with that, he playfully ruffled Tonks' hair, sent a slight wave to a still preoccupied Madison and continued down the hall.

A moment later, Madison faced Tonks. "You okay?" she asked quietly.

Tonks gave a defeated sort of shrug. "No matter what he does," she explained somberly, "I can't hate him."

---

**End Author's Note:** I really need to stop updating so often or else I'll run out of chapters to post! However, I just kicked some serious ass on my finals, and I'm feel pretty damn good because of it, so here's another chapter. This chapter and the next chapter are kind of short, but after that the chapters get longer and longer. I feel like I should talk about characters or plot or something, but I think it's still to early for me to reveal anything, so I'll just shut up.


	5. Pieces of the People We Love

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Four**  
_Pieces of the People We Love_

-

The Hogwarts Express was billowing steam like it was nobody's business. The white, wispy substance wrapped around the students who were boarding the train for the ride back down to London for the Christmas holidays, and it was through this steam that Bill caught Charlie's shifty look over his shoulder.

"My brother's up to something," Bill remarked calmly to Mick.

"Up to something," Mick echoed, his eyes snapping up from his trunk with interest. "I hope it's no good," he added, his lips curling into a devious grin.

Bill rolled his eyes and tugged on his friend's sleeve. "Let's sit in their compartment to make sure they don't kill themselves," he said, walking over to the door where his brother and his friends were boarding. Bill hadn't gone more than two steps when he was interrupted by Athena.

"Hey, Bill!" she greeted brightly with a large smile as she took hold of his arm. "Sit by me on the way home?" she asked, her eyes large and pleading.

"Erm…" Bill started, sending furtive glances between the door his brother had just disappeared through, Mick, and Athena. Mick nodded him on encouragingly. "Yeah," Bill answered at last. "Of course."

Athena gave an uncharacteristic squeal of delight as she tightened her grip on Bill, pulling him along. Bill sent Mick a pleading look.

"Keep an eye on Charlie," he whispered to his friend as his girlfriend pulled him onto the train and led him down the corridor to a compartment full of Ravenclaw girls.

"Everyone!" Athena called out as she and Bill entered the compartment. "This is Bill Weasley. Bill, you know Sara, Melissa and Sasha."

Bill nodded good-naturedly at the three girls he was only vaguely familiar with; Ravenclaws weren't known for being chatty, and he was quite certain that he had never heard any of the girls speak outside of class.

Athena sat down next to the girl named Sasha and pulled at Bill's arm to do the same. He sat, quite awkwardly, in the little space left to him; his entire left side brushed against Athena, sending a slight shiver down his spine.

"So, Bill," the girl named Sara said, leaning forward, her elbows on her knees. "Is it true that you can do the healing charm? Athena said she saw you do it that day you got into a fist fight with your brother."

"Yeah, it's kind of my specialty," Bill answered, concentrating on keeping the squeak out of his voice as Athena interlaced her fingers with his and leaned her head upon his shoulder. Sara's, Melissa's, and Sasha's eyes widened with impressed shock.

"That's really advanced magic!" Sasha supplied from her spot in the corner.

"Not really," Bill mumbled, feeling the blush rise to his cheeks. "My mum explained it to me last summer. You just have to have, like, an aptitude for it. It's in your blood or something. She's really good with healing charms too."

The other girls didn't look convinced.

"Still, it's pretty impressive magic for a twelve-year-old," Melissa muttered.

"Fourteen," Bill corrected.

"Sorry?"

"I just turned fourteen last month," Bill explained. "I'm supposed to be in third year, but I went to Hogwarts a year late."

"Like me," Athena supplied helpfully.

"Well that explains how fit you are," Sara mentioned, nodding at Bill's lanky physique.

Feeling quite proud of himself, Bill stretched out as much as he could, propping his arms on the back of the train seat. Athena immediately used this chance to snuggle closer to him, one of her hands resting on his knee, which sent a shock of naughty thoughts directly to Bill's brain.

The rest of the train ride passed pleasantly in conversations about charms, Athena never leaving Bill's side. The sun was nothing more than a gold band along the western horizon when the train finally slowed into the London station.

"Have a happy Christmas, Athena. You too, Bill," the other girls said, gathering their things and leaving Bill and Athena alone in the compartment.

Bill turned in his seat to face her and was startled to see her so close to him, her eyes large and her mouth forming a slightly shy smile. Her hand reached out and clasped his softly, her fingers tracing circles on his flesh.

"Merry Christmas, Bill," she said so softly that she was nearly whispering.

"It's not Christmas yet," Bill replied dumbly, his tongue feeling as though it consisted of melted lead.

Athena didn't seem to hear him; her face was inching closer, her eyelids dropping as though they were heavy. Bill didn't have time to think. He tilted his head slightly to the side and parted his lips just as Athena's brushed them. She pulled back, smiled, then leaned in again, capturing his lips once more.

Bill had _no fucking idea_ what he was doing.

He sat quite still on the train seat, his hands in his lap, and just followed Athena's lead. She pulled apart to tilt her head to the other side and continued kissing, and Bill mentally congratulated himself as he successfully learned how to alternate between upper and lower lip without bumping noses or teeth.

He was just bringing his hand to brush her cheek when they were interrupted by a loud clamor outside their compartment door. Breaking apart rather rapidly, Bill turned to see that Mick had thrown himself against the glass, his eyes wide with alarm. Tonks, Max and Madison clamored around him. They too looked scared. Bill vaguely wondered if he was that bad of a kisser.

"Bill! We have a problem!" Mick exclaimed loudly, throwing open the compartment door.

"Which is?" Bill asked through gritted teeth. He rose from his seat to glare directly at Mick.

Mick suddenly and unexpectedly bent over and picked up what looked like a walking furball before holding it out at arm's length: It was an orange kitten.

"Did someone lose a cat?" Bill asked, unperturbed.

"This cat is your brother," Mick exclaimed, scrunching his face up as if he expected Bill to punch him. Bill glanced down at Tonks, Madison and Max. The three first years looked highly ashamed of themselves, and Tonks' eyes were even slightly rimmed with tears. Bill's gaze returned to the kitten; the kitten's eyes were the same shade of brown as Charlie's.

"Charlie?" he asked the kitten skeptically.

"Mrow," the kitten replied, gently stretching out a paw to Bill. There was a moment of silence and then…

"OH MY GOD!!! HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO MUM?"

Bill sat dejectedly down, and Mick lightly dropped the kitten Charlie into his lap. Bill stared at his feline brother.

"How did this happen?" he asked Mick softly.

"Potion," Mick replied. "They were already making it when I got into the compartment, and I thought that just making a potion wouldn't be bad. I tried to tell Charlie not to drink it, but…" Mick trailed off and indicated Charlie, who was currently curled up contently on Bill's lap. "Here," Mick added, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small flask. "I kept some of the potion. Your parents or someone will be able to make an antidote."

"Oy! You kids!" Everyone gave a slight jump as the train conductor came up behind Tonks and the others. "Are you going to get off? Platform 9 ¾ closes in about five minutes."

This announcement caused the others to scurry. Mick, Athena, Max and Madison left the compartment within moments, mumbling goodbyes and apologies. Tonks glanced at Bill, her eyes – blue that day – were large.

"I'll grab Charlie's stuff with my own," she said, scuttling out of the compartment. Bill scooped his furry brother up in one hand and used his other to drag his trunk off of the train. Tonks was waiting for him at the barrier and together they ran through it, only to be greeted on the other side by their livid parents.

"What took you?" Mrs. Weasley scolded loudly. She glanced over Bill and Tonks' shoulders as if she expected someone to appear behind them. "Where's Charlie?"

Bill held up the kitten. Mrs. Weasley stared at it.

"WILLIAM ARTHUR WEASLEY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOUR BROTHER?"

-

"So…you turned your friend into a cat?"

"He turned himself into a cat. I just…helped," Tonks replied testily. It was the afternoon of December 24th, and Tonks found herself sitting in her aunt's living room, her two Muggle cousins listening to her every word about Hogwarts.

Normally, Tonks would have been delighted to answer their questions, but she was worried about her Weasley boys; she had not heard back from either of them since they departed at the train station, and she was beginning to wonder if Molly had killed Bill and left Charlie as a cat.

"Will they be able to change him back into a boy?" her cousin, Sam, asked with wide eyes.

"I hope so," Tonks replied, biting her lower lip nervously.

"They will," Andromeda reassured, entering the room and sitting down upon the couch, gracing the children with a warm smile. "Nymphadora, please sit like a lady when wearing a dress," she scolded.

Tonks frowned at her mother and proceeded to cross her legs. She hadn't even wanted to wear the stupid dress; the memories from the last time she wore a dress were still fresh in her mind. Andromeda, however, had given her an ultimatum that consisted of wearing the dress or wearing an orange and brown monstrosity that was knitted by Grandma Tonks.

"So they'll definitely be able to turn him back?" Tonks' other cousin, Dean, asked.

Andromeda nodded. "He's probably back to normal as we speak."

"Then why hasn't he returned my letters, letting me know that he's okay?" Tonks snapped.

"He's a boy; they don't think like we do," Andromeda replied calmly. Sam and Dean gazed between Andromeda and Tonks curiously.

"Boys, come in here and help set the table!" Tonks' Aunt Linda called out, poking her head into the family room to send a stern look at her sons.

The boys immediately stood and walked into the kitchen, and Tonks made to follow but was stopped by her aunt. "No, no, Nymphadora," she said, casting a furtive glance at the china. "You're a guest. Go relax on the couch with your mother."

Tonks trudged back to her mom and waited for her aunt to disappear into the kitchen before saying quite glumly: "I break one glass when I'm five, and I'm suddenly banned from touching the china ever again."

"Honey, you still break glasses," Andromeda said with a smile as Tonks sat down on the couch next to her and leaned upon her shoulder.

"Mum?" Tonks asked after a moment of silence.

"Hmm?"

"How did you and Mrs. Weasley become friends?" Tonks blushed as she felt her mother's body grow tense. "It's just…you were a Slytherin, and Bill said that both of his parents were Gryffindors. And…I mean…I know Gryffindors and Slytherins don't really hang out together."

Tonks felt her mother relax somewhat.

"Molly and I weren't friends at Hogwarts; we became friends when our husbands joined the Order of the Phoenix. You remember daddy talking about that?"

Tonks nodded.

"They joined shortly after you were born. Molly and I frequently visited headquarters to cook and keep an eye on our husbands. We bonded then. And one day I invited her over for tea. She brought Bill and Charlie."

Tonks stopped breathing for a moment, shocked at the fact that she had met Bill and Charlie before she could remember.

"You and Charlie were only a few months old and basically just gurgled at each other. Bill, on the other hand, was two. He was so cute! He walked right up to you and placed a little kiss on your forehead! Molly and I thought it was the most adorable thing in the world! We arranged your marriage on the spot."

Tonks jumped back from her mother as if burned. Andromeda merely laughed.

"You're lying!" Tonks spat.

"Of course I am, darling!" Andromeda replied, her eyes shining with mirth. "You know how I feel about arranged marriages."

Tonks relaxed and leaned her head against her mother's shoulder again.

"Although," Andromeda continued, running her hand through Tonks' hair, "if you and Bill did end up getting married eventually, I wouldn't blame you; he's going to be handsome when he grows up."

Tonks thought about that for a moment. Bill was a bit awkward looking with his oversized arms and legs, but he had a nice face, and Tonks was sure that once he evened out a bit, he would be quite handsome.

"Yeah," she sighed, agreeing with her mother. "Bill's going to look handsome when he's older, but I can't marry him."

"Why not?"

Tonks hesitated. She pulled back from her mother and bit her lower lip nervously. "Because I'm in love with Charlie," she admitted softly. Andromeda chuckled and Tonks' eyes narrowed at her. "This isn't funny, Mum!" she snapped.

"Oh, my little girl's first love," Andromeda sighed while bringing her hands to cup Tonks' face.

Tonks, who felt as though Andromeda wasn't taking her deep and passionate love for Charlie Weasley seriously, turned away from her mother's embrace, her eyes narrowed.

"Hey, you two, dinner's ready," Sam announced poking his head into the living room. "Better get it before Uncle Ted eats all the ham."

Still smiling with delight, Andromeda placed a soft kiss upon Tonks' forehead before rising from the couch and entering the dining room.

Tonks sighed as she gazed at her mother's retreating figure. She'd show her mother. Someday, she'll come home with Charlie Weasley's engagement ring on her finger, and then her mother will know that Tonks and Charlie were meant for each other.

-

A horrible, gut-wrenching scream sounded from the living room.

The Christmas cookie that Bill had been eating dropped to the floor, forgotten, as he rushed into the adjoining room to see what the commotion was about, and he nearly jumped out of his own skin when he saw a large spider wrapping its legs around a terrified Ron.

Ron, who was deathly pale, appeared frozen in fear, his eyes so wide that Bill was shocked that they hadn't bulged out of his head. Ginny was a little ways away, screaming at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face as she turned to send a pleading look at Bill. Percy was sitting on the couch just behind Ron; he too looked as if he was incapable of moving. On the other side of the room, still in cat form, was Charlie, hiding under a stray piece of wrapping paper, his large, brown eyes watching the spider furtively.

The spider's pinchers were inching dangerously close to Ron's face, its eight eyes feasting upon the little boy.

"No!" Ginny screamed. She rushed forward and used her doll to knock the gigantic spider off of Ron. This seemed to jolt everyone out of their trance: Percy leapt forward and gathered a now crying Ron into his arms, Charlie scurried under more wrapping paper, leaving only his tail visible, and Bill leapt across the room and landed on the spider, squashing it.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Weasley asked as he and Mrs. Weasley rushed into the room. Ron immediately reached out for his mother while Bill sent his father a look of disgust.

"I have spider guts on my socks," Bill whined. A rustle behind him told him that Charlie was poking his little kitty head out of the wrapping paper.

"What in Merlin's name went on here?" Mrs. Weasley asked, rocking Ron back and forth as he cried upon her shoulder. Fred cautiously made his way out from behind a chair, George close behind him.

"It was me," Fred admitted meekly. "Ron stole the last chocolate frog and I…I don't know how it happened, but his bear…" Fred gestured at the spider guts under Bill's feet.

Mr. Weasley, who was breathing rapidly, distractedly patted Fred on top of his head. "Was anyone hurt," Arthur asked, looking around the room. Percy and the twins shook their heads; Bill continued to look disgusted.

"I have spider guts on my socks," he whined again.

Bill was ignored as his parents took to examining Ron, lifting up his shirt to ascertain that the spider had not bitten him anywhere.

"It looks like everyone's fine," Mrs. Weasley said once she was satisfied that Ron was not physically hurt.

"I'm not," stated Bill desperately; he was still standing in what was left of the spider. "I have spider guts…on my socks! Obviously no one understand the psychological effect this situation is causing me!"

Charlie left the sanctuary of the wrapping paper and began sniffing a crumpled spider leg curiously. "Charlie, you disgust me," Bill reprimanded. "Would someone please do something about my socks?" he wailed, sending a pleading look to his parents. His father sent him a sly smile while waving his wand, clearing the room and Bill's socks of what remained of the spider. "Thank you!"

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley took a still whimpering Ron into the kitchen, leaving the rest of the Weasley children to their own devices in the living room. Bill stalked over to the couch and plopped down by Percy. Ginny crawled into his lap and the twins settled down on his other side. Charlie returned to batting the discarded wrapping paper with his paw.

"You were fantastic, Gin," Bill told his little sister. She gazed up at him with large eyes.

"No hurt Ron," she sniffled. Fred looked slightly ashamed, his eyes firmly on the floor. Bill ruffled his hair reassuringly.

"That's right, Gin," Bill said. "Us Weasleys, we look out for each other. Charlie, you're a bit close to the tree."

Charlie, who was getting a little too into batting wrapping paper, swung his paw and knocked a branch of the Christmas tree; a bauble dangled dangerously and Charlie immediately rushed to join his siblings on the couch, perching on Percy's lap.

"Silly kitty," Ginny giggled.

-

For the most part, Charlie thought being a cat was awesome, and he was thankful that the antidote took awhile to brew; however, being a cat also had its drawbacks.

The owls from his anxious friends were now coming daily. Max, Madison and Tonks sent letters asking whether or not he was okay, but Charlie could not reply. He knew that Tonks had sent Bill a letter; he had seen his brother sit down at their desk to reply to her, but Bill had been called away after writing his salutation and the letter was never finished.

Currently, Charlie sent his best kitty glare across the bedroom to his brother. Bill had the radio on so loudly that it was painful to Charlie's oversensitive kitty ears; the older Weasley boy, however, did not seem to notice his brother's predicament and continued to bob his head along with the music as he read out of his Charms textbook.

Frustrated, Charlie mewed loudly. Bill scratched his nose and turned the page in his book.

Charlie_hated_ being a cat.

A rumble issued from deep inside Charlie's throat as he jumped off of his bed and landed on the desk; Bill's barely-started letter to Tonks still upon it. Charlie gazed at it for a moment before throwing a cautious glance over his furry shoulder at his brother, who was now singing along to the music.

Certain that his older brother would not notice, Charlie tipped over the little bottle of ink and placed his paw in the black pool that formed. He then hopped back over to the letter and stamped his paw upon the parchment; it was the only way he could communicate with Tonks, and he hoped that that one paw print was enough to reassure her that he was okay.

He then gathered the piece of parchment in his mouth and jumped down from the desk, landing lightly on the floor and wiping his inked paw upon Bill's favorite shirt. He trotted over to Bill's bed and hopped upon it, startling his brother.

"Charlie, what the hell?" Bill asked.

Charlie released the piece of parchment and Bill gazed at it, his face softening. "Alright," he said, getting up from his bed. "I'll send it."

-

Tonks stared down at the piece of parchment. Her name was scribbled at the top of it in what appeared to be Bill's handwriting, yet the body consisted only of a single paw print; Charlie must still be a cat.

Fear immediately clutched Tonks' stomach as she wondered whether or not Charlie would be doomed to stay a cat for the entirety of his life. She felt a sudden determination to see him, to assure him that she would always love him whether he was a cat or a human.

"Mum, I'm using the Floo!" Tonks cried out, bounding over to the fireplace and disappearing within the green flames before her mother could even reply. The spinning was dizzying and not at all helpful to her already queasy stomach, but Tonks persevered and stumbled out of the grate once she saw the Burrow's kitchen.

"Tonks! My goodness!"

Tonks was greeted with alarm by Mrs. Weasley. Brushing soot from her eyes, the young girl realized that she was not alone in the kitchen. Arthur, Molly and Bill were crowded around a boy wrapped in a blanket. Tonks' heart skipped a beat.

"Hullo, Tonks," Charlie said softly, a shy smile crossing his features. He was human again and wrapped only in a red blanket; Tonks could see the skin of his collarbone as well as his bare legs and feet. "You just missed it," he explained, indicating a nearby cauldron that undoubtedly held the antidote. "My bones made some really fantastic sounds as they lengthened!"

Tonks didn't say anything; her heart was beating so rapidly, that she didn't feel as though she could speak. The silence was thick around them.

"Charlie, dear, go on upstairs and put some clothes on," Molly instructed when Tonks continued to not speak. Charlie walked past her to go up the stairs, his shy smile firmly in place as he did so. Bill chuckled softly.

"Come on, kid. You look like you need to sit down," he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders and leading her into the living room where they sat upon the couch.

"He's alright," Tonks breathed finally. Bill blushed.

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't write; I meant to," he apologized.

Tonks waved it off; she was too relieved over Charlie being alright to be upset with Bill.

"I think he enjoyed being a cat," Bill continued, stretching his limbs out lazily. "He got to sleep in sunshine all day and drink milk."

Tonks smiled.

"How was your Christmas?" she asked Bill, feeling the need to start a conversation.

"Fine," Bill shrugged. "Minus a horrible incident with a spider."

Tonks raised a questioning eyebrow and Bill filled her in on how Fred had turned Ron's teddy bear into a gigantic, living spider.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't help you with that, mate," Charlie said, entering the room fully clothed. "But that thing was twice my size. You understand."

Charlie plopped down on the couch, spreading himself out over Bill and Tonks' laps. "It's good to be back," he said, placing his arms behind his head.

Bill sent Tonks a mischievous smile. Glancing down, Tonks saw that Bill had his hands on Charlie's legs, ready to push the younger boy off. Tonks returned his smile and together, they silently counted to three before pushing Charlie off of their laps. The younger boy fell to the floor with a thud.

A muffled, "I hate you both," floated to their ears as they laughed. It turned out to be a wonderful Christmas holiday after all.

---

**End Author's Note:** told me that the total number of words for this fic (before I added this chapter) was like, 17, 666...and I'm only slightly superstitious, so I said, "What the hell! ONE more chapter!" My goal is to not update another chapter of this story until I crank out the next chapter of HHII (fear not, I plan to do that soon). Plus, as of now, I have half of what I already have written posted for this fic, so I'd like to start writing again before I continue posting. Otherwise I'll run out of chapters, and there's something comforting knowing that you have the next chapter already written when you post a chapter. I promise the next chapter will be up sometime within the next two weeks. I'm going to have to really force myself not to post though because your reviews have all been so lovely! I seriously think that I have some of the best reviewers in the world! Anyway, I dunno if there's anything I need to say about this chapter. Originally it was plotted that the potion had Charlie speaking in Haiku for a month instead of turning into a cat; however, I suck at poetry so bad, and I'm not sure how the cat thing popped into my head, but I was like, "Oh, that's so much better than poetry!" Also, after I had written the chapter, Joey and I contemplated those shy smiles that Charlie kept giving Tonks after he turned back into a human. Was he just shy because he was naked under that blanket, or was there another reason for those shy smiles? The sad thing is that even I don't know!!! The shy smiles could have been caused by a budding sexuality or even Charlie's need for approval from Tonks. Of course, WHEN I was ACTUALLY writing this, he was just shy because he was naked. So maybe there was nothing behind them at all. Damn, I ramble too much.


	6. The Way We Get By

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Five**  
_The Way We Get By_

-

"I can't believe he did that!" Charlie fumed, taking his normal seat by the window in History of Magic. He glared up at Max as the blonde boy calmly sat next to him. "Fifty points from Gryffindor just because I _happened_ to flick a bit of potion at Dawlish, which just _happened_ to give him warts all over his ugly face! Snape was out of line, he was!"

"I know, mate, but there's really nothing you can do about it. Be thankful he didn't give you a detention. I reckon detention with Snape isn't pretty," Max consoled.

At the front of the classroom, Binns began his lecture; however, neither boy made to take notes seeing as both of them had decided that History of Magic was a lost cause and were therefore prepared to fail. Max took out his quill and began doodling on Charlie's hand.

"Make a dragon," Charlie said, offering his hand over and propping his head up with his other hand.

"You like dragons," Max commented idly as he drew a dragon's open mouth between Charlie's thumb and index finger.

Charlie shrugged his shoulders, his eyes now focusing out of the window. The Hufflepuffs were in Herbology and he could see Tonks and Madison playfully flicking water from a watering pot at one another. Tonks' hair was violet and glistened in the sun as she turned away from Madison's water attack.

"They're fast, dragons," Charlie explained listlessly. He had pushed the window open slightly and could hear the girls' laughter floating up to him on the warm breeze. Tonks was saying something, but Charlie couldn't make out the words.

"I'm fast," Max admitted quietly. He was now wrapping the dragon's body around Charlie's wrist.

"That's nice, mate," Charlie replied distractedly, leaning his head closer to the window. Tonks had just said something that caused Madison to throw her head back with laughter, and Charlie wanted to be in on the joke.

"I'm really fast," Max continued, his voice slightly above a whisper and his eyes focused so intently upon Charlie's wrist that Charlie could feel the burn of his gaze upon it. "Like, so fast that humans can't see me."

This got Charlie's attention. He turned his head slowly, his eyes wide as he stared at Max. The blonde boy finished his drawing and looked up at last, a smile upon his face. "It kind of looks like a tattoo," he commented. Charlie hastily glanced down and was mildly surprised that it did look like a dragon was tattooed upon his right hand.

"You're fantastic at drawing, Max!" Charlie complimented. "But how fantastic are you at using your super-human speed for sneaking into places? Say…Snape's shower for example?"

Max made a disgusted face. "I understand you wanting to use my powers for evil, but…Snape's shower? You're completely mental if you think I'd go anywhere near there!"

"Not for evil," Charlie explained, a blush rising to his face. "Just some good ol' fashion tomfoolery. Boys will be boys and all that. And it's not like Snape's going to be _in_ the shower!"

Max still looked disgusted.

"Look," Charlie said desperately, leaning in closer to his friend, "if you do this for me, I'll owe you one. You'll be able to call in the favor anytime you need it. It can be anything."

The look of disgust melted into a thoughtful expression. Madison's laughter rang through the window once more, and Max appeared to have made up his mind.

"Alright," he said at last. "What do you have in mind?"

-

"I think he looks kinda handsome like that."

Bill jumped slightly at the voice. Turning his head to the side, he saw that Athena was walking along side of him, her books clutched to her chest and her eyes focused on someone at the staff table.

Bill was struck speechless for a moment; he and Athena had not spoken to each other in months -- not since the Valentine's make-out session that had gone horribly wrong. The girl just would not believe that Bill really did have his wand in his pocket at the time! She had slapped him and stalked off, refusing to speak to him between classes or at meals. Bill was certain that they were over, even though neither of them had officially said so.

"Who's handsome?" he sputtered at last. His face was still showing his shock over her actually speaking amicably to him.

"Professor Snape," Athena replied, pointing up to the staff table. Bill followed her pointed finger and saw that Professor Snape, for reasons unknown, had pulled his hair back into a ponytail. Without the black curtains of grease in front of it, Snape's face actually looked alright.

"Huh," Bill said. Athena smirked.

"See ya, Bill." She offered him a friendly smile over her shoulder as she walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

"See ya," he replied softly to her retreating form. He shook his head slightly, clearing it of confusing thoughts about girls before he headed over to the Gryffindor table and sat down across from his brother.

"Morning, Charlie," he greeted, grabbing a piece of toast.

"My life is complete shit," Charlie moaned.

Bill raised a quizzical eyebrow at his brother. "Is it your time of the month already?" he asked. Charlie glowered at him. When the younger boy didn't elaborate, Bill set his toast down and stared at him. "What's wrong, Charles?" he asked.

"He looks alright like that!" Charlie exclaimed, waving at hand at the staff table.

"Snape?" Bill asked. He had no idea why Charlie was upset over Snape's new hairdo.

"Yes, Snape!" Charlie replied. "I…" He broke off and leaned in closer to Bill in a conspiring manner. "I had Max put glue in his shampoo," he admitted in a whisper.

Bill gasped. "Snape actually uses shampoo?" he asked. Charlie glowered some more.

"Serves you right your prank backfired on you," Bill continued in a more serious manner. "Don't use your friends like that, Charlie. If Max had gotten caught, he would have been in trouble instead of you."

Charlie didn't say anything; he merely pushed his breakfast away and laid his head down upon the table. Bill continued to eat his own breakfast in silence until Professors McGonagall and Flitwick approached the table behind Charlie.

"Mr. Weasley, may we have a word please?" McGonagall asked briskly.

Charlie's head immediately snapped up, his eyes wide with alarm. "I didn't do it!" he stated quickly.

McGonagall raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Didn't do what?" she asked.

Charlie turned around, his face completely red as he gazed guiltily up at her.

"My homework," he lied.

McGonagall eyed him as if she was trying to deduce whether or not the boy was telling the truth. "Well, Charles, there's still an hour until you have Transfiguration. I believe you can get your work done within that time."

Charlie immediately sprang up from the table, grabbing his bag and slinging it across his shoulders. "Yes! I'm going to the library right now. Thanks Professor!" The younger boy immediately walked away, throwing a furtive glance over his shoulder at Bill. McGonagall shook her head and stared down at Bill.

"It's you we wish to talk to, Bill," she said. "Would you please join us in my office? You may bring your breakfast if you're not finished with it."

Bill stared down at his half-finished breakfast; he no longer felt hungry. In fact, the possibility of being in trouble over something was enough to make his stomach queasy.

"I'm done," he said quickly, pushing his plate away and rising from his seat.

"Very well," McGonagall replied, turning briskly on the spot and heading out of the Great Hall. Flitwick offered Bill an encouraging smile as they followed. Five minutes later, Bill found himself sitting in front of McGonagall's desk, feeling very much as if he was about to be interrogated.

"Don't look so tense, Weasley," McGonagall said, sitting behind her desk. "You're not here to be punished."

Bill breathed a sigh of relief as Flitwick sat in the chair next to him. McGonagall waved her wand and two tea cups appeared on her desk. Bill stared at them blankly.

"One of these tea cups is cursed, Mr. Weasley," she informed. "Can you tell me which one?"

"Er…" Bill hedged, his eyes shooting between the tea cups and McGonagall. What exactly was the old broad on about, asking him to point out cursed teacups? Bill cautiously reached out a hand to the tea cups.

"Don't touch them," McGonagall snapped, alarm on her face.

"Wasn't going to, Professor," Bill replied calmly. His hand was a few inches away from the tea cups; it passed over one, then the other. One appeared to be emanating heat, although Bill wasn't entirely sure if he felt it.

"That one's cursed," he said, pointing to the tea cup on the right.

McGonagall and Flitwick shared a knowing glance, but neither informed Bill of whether or not he was right. With a wave of McGonagall's wand, the tea cups disappeared.

"There's a cursed object somewhere in this room," she told him, her gaze piercing. "Would you find it, please?"

Bill's shoulders sagged; he didn't want to search McGonagall's office. He sat still for a minute, concentrating. Pinpricks formed on his back as if someone was staring at him from behind. He rose from the chair and walked to the door; the pinpricks intensified, but there were no objects by the door. He furrowed his brow and reached out his hand. The door was emanating with the same heat as the cursed tea cup. Bill sent a quizzical gaze at his professors over his shoulder.

"The door's cursed," he announced, and McGonagall's eyes widened as Flitwick gave a little jump of surprise.

"See! It's just as I told you, Minerva!" Flitwick exclaimed happily. "The boy's intuition is excellent. And his charm work! I haven't seen someone with such an aptitude for charms in a long time!"

McGonagall didn't say anything; she merely waved her wand and the heat emanating off of the door vanished.

"Er…Professor? I don't…"

"You may be seated, Weasley."

Bill walked over to the chair and sat down, his face showing confusion. McGonagall sighed, her hands folded in front of her.

"Mr. Weasley, you have a very strong sixth sense," she informed. "This, in combination with your high aptitude for charms, makes you a very likely candidate to become a curse breaker."

"Er…" Bill didn't know exactly what being a curse breaker entitled, but it sounded awesome.

"It is…of course…too early to start discussing careers with you, Mr. Weasley; however, I strongly suggest you begin taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes next year. If you do decide to become a curse breaker, you will need these subjects."

"Um. Okay."

McGonagall gazed ambivalently at him over her spectacles. "You may go."

Bill rose from his seat and opened his mouth. "Er…thank you, Professors," he stammered, feeling very stupid as he did so. He promptly closed his mouth and walked out of the room.

-

"Your handwriting looks like a girl's!"

"Shut up! It does not!"

"It does too! Look how loopy it is!"

"It's cursive! It's supposed to be loopy!"

"Not_that_ loopy!"

Tonks glanced up from her Transfiguration essay to glare at Max and Madison. The three of them were taking advantage of the warm June evening to do their homework out of doors and were congregated amongst some bushes close to the Forbidden Forest. While Tonks was actually trying to get her work done – they did have final exams in two weeks after all – her two friends appeared to be flirting, their own essays more or less forgotten. It was adorable, annoying and alienating all at the same time.

"YOU GUYS WON'T BELIEVE WHAT BILL JUST TOLD ME!"

Charlie burst through the bushes very suddenly, startling them all. Tonks and Madison jumped and Max's fangs made a brief appearance before retracting back into his gums – it was the first time Tonks had seen his fangs when they weren't in a blood bag, and she wondered vaguely if he would ever use them in defense. This animalistic vision of Max did not fit with the lovable, kind-hearted boy she knew.

"Bloody hell, Weasley, don't just jump out of bushes like that!" Max scolded; he was blushing and rubbing self-consciously at his mouth as if he was embarrassed that his fangs had popped out.

Charlie ignored his friend. He threw his schoolbag unceremoniously to the ground and ran his hands through his fiery locks. Tonks noted his disheveled appearance: his shirt was untucked and his tie hung limply around his shoulders.

"What did Bill tell you, Charlie?" she asked, concern welling in her chest. "Is your family alright?"

"Huh?" Charlie's hands dropped from his hair as he sent her a brief, quizzical stare. "Yeah, they're all fine. Ron and Ginny are both fully potty trained now. There's much rejoicing in the Weasley house. Don't worry, Tonks, it's nothing like that."

Charlie settled down upon the grass next to her, pulling his schoolbag closer and taking out his own Transfiguration essay.

"Well then what did he say?" Tonks asked again.

Charlie sighed, his shoulders visibly deflating. "He's seriously thinking about becoming a curse breaker when he grows up."

"Really!?" Tonks sputtered, excitement welling in her chest. "Excellent! That's fantastic!

"I don't think you're seeing the problem here, Tonks," Charlie replied, in an exasperated fashion.

"What's the problem?" Tonks inquired, shrugging. "Curse breaker would be perfect for Bill! It requires brains and dedication, but it's also fun and kind of dangerous!"

For a split second, Charlie's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he were scrutinizing Tonks and wondering about how well she knew his brother. But just as quickly as it had formed, the look disappeared.

"Yes, this is fantastic for Bill but horrible for the rest of us Weasley kids!" Charlie explained, reaching into his bag for his quill.

"How so?" Max asked; Tonks was surprised that Max and Madison were even paying attention to Charlie's rant seeing as it was only a few minutes previously that they had been caught up in one another.

"Well, a curse breaker is a really cool job, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So the rest of us will have to outdo ourselves to beat that! I mean, I should be alright: I'm the second born, but by the time Ron gets to be an adult, he'll have to save the world or something. And Ginny will have to…" Charlie paused and thought a moment, "…marry Harry Potter!"

Max snorted.

"You laugh now, but it's true, I tell you!" Charlie reprimanded, pointing his quill threateningly at Max.

"I'm sure you'll all be fine," Tonks reasoned, returning to her essay.

Charlie didn't answer; he merely stared down at his essay and moodily scratched the tip of his nose with his quill. Tonks caught Max and Madison's eye and together the three of them shook their heads at Charlie's antics.

For several minutes, the quartet worked silently on their homework, only to be interrupted once again by a Weasley bursting through the bushes.

"HIDE ME!" Bill ordered, crouching low amongst them and pulling Charlie in front of him as a shield.

"Hide you from what?" Charlie asked testily as he tried to wiggle out of Bill's grasp. Charlie's question was answered as a baby unicorn poked its head through the bushes, apparently in search of Bill.

"I was on my way to watch the Quidditch practice and she started following me!" Bill exclaimed, his hands holding onto Charlie's shoulders fiercely. "I don't get it," he continued as the little unicorn made its way into their gathering. "They're not supposed to like boys!"

Charlie immediately lapsed into a peal of laughter. "Maybe you're effeminate, Bill. Ouch!" Bill had whacked him hard upside the head.

"This is embarrassing," Bill sighed, resting his head on Charlie's back, just between the younger boy's shoulder blades.

"Don't worry, Bill," Tonks joked. "We won't tell anyone that a unicorn has mistaken you for a woman."

Bill glared at her. "Har, har," he replied sarcastically. "Listen, Tonks, I'm glad you're here. I need to take this thing to Hagrid, yet I can't have a unicorn tailing me! It'll raise questions about my manhood…"

Charlie started laughing again. "The unicorn probably senses that you're a vir…BLOODY HELL, STOP HITTING ME!"

"Yeah, I'll go to Hagrid's with you, Bill," Tonks said, putting her stuff back into her bag. Charlie suddenly tensed.

"I'll go too," he said, his glance shifting between Bill and Tonks.

"Whatever, as long as there's a girl with us." Bill looked over at Madison. "What about you? You wanna come?"

Madison jumped slightly when Bill addressed her, a blush rising to her cheeks. Max glared at Bill.

"No thanks," Madison stammered quickly. "I'll just head back up to the castle. It's getting late."

"I'll walk you," Max offered immediately.

Bill gazed at the two curiously as they gathered their things and made their way towards the castle.

"Are those two dating or something?" he asked once they were out of ear shot. Charlie immediately stopped gathering his things and sent Bill a quizzical stare.

"Huh?"

Tonks rolled her eyes at her friend. "They were flirting earlier, but I don't think they're dating. Mad would tell me if they were."

"Huh?" Charlie echoed in confusion.

"Charlie, you are oblivious," she told him as the three of them began their trek to Hagrid's, the unicorn following in their wake.

"Shut up, I've just never thought of them as a couple!" Charlie defended himself. "Although I can't really blame Max; Madison's pretty easy on the eyes."

Tonks felt something tighten in her chest, prohibiting her of air. Her face flushed with jealousy. "Maybe _you_ should be flirting with Madison," she stated heatedly, picking up her pace so that she stalked ahead of the boys.

"Nah. It'd be weird dating her," Charlie replied nonchalantly from behind her.

Tonks' jealously abated slightly and she felt Bill nudge her shoulder in what she assumed to be a reassuring manner. She offered him a slight smile as they came up to Hagrid's hut and knocked.

Hagrid opened the door, revealing himself in a pink apron and carrying what appeared to be a puppy in one hand. The puppy yapped at them.

"Quiet, Fang," Hagrid scolded the puppy as he blinked down at the three students. "Hello!" he greeted them brightly. "Yer the Weasley boys, eh?"

Bill and Charlie nodded silently, and Hagrid's eyes locked onto Tonks inquisitively.

"Tonks," she introduced, holding out her hand.

"Nymphadora Tonks," Bill added as Hagrid offered her a few fingers to shake.

"Shut it, William," Tonks replied through her teeth.

"Well, what can I do fer yeh?" Hagrid asked them.

Bill blushed and looked over his shoulder at the unicorn standing just behind him.

"She's following me, sir," he explained. "We thought perhaps you knew where she belongs."

Hagrid looked past Bill's shoulder at the baby unicorn nipping at his fingers.

"Trusting when they're young, aren't they?" Hagrid commented.

Bill immediately gazed at the older man with wide, hopeful eyes. "Is that why she's following _me_?" he asked. "I mean, I heard they weren't supposed to like boys; I had thought that maybe I'm not masculine enough or…"

Hagrid chuckled. "A grown unicorn wouldn't follow yeh. But the young don't mind boys so much."

Bill sighed and slumped against the doorframe in relief.

"Would yeh three like to take her back to the forest with me?" Hagrid asked them.

"OH…MY…GOD, YES!" Charlie exclaimed loudly; he looked as if his birthday had come early.

"Yeah, I'll go," Tonks added. Going into the forest sounded like fun – slightly scary, but fun.

Hagrid looked inquisitively at Bill.

"No thanks, Hagrid," Bill declined. "I've got an essay to finish. Maybe next time though." Bill turned towards Charlie and Tonks. "You two have fun. And listen to Hagrid," he added, giving both of them a stern gaze.

"Geez, Bill, you act like you're fifty sometimes," Charlie commented.

Bill playfully punched his brother on the shoulder before leaning close to Tonks' ear. "You could probably get away with holding Charlie's hand in there," he told her in a whisper.

Tonks immediately felt her face flush, and she pushed Bill away.

"Piss off, Weasley," she told him loudly.

"Pardon?" Charlie asked. He had followed Hagrid into the hut and looked at Tonks inquisitively over his shoulder once he had heard his surname.

"I was talking to your daft brother," Tonks replied, watching Bill disappear into the increasing darkness.

"Yeah, he is pretty daft, isn't he?" Charlie asked, coming up to stand beside Tonks. "I mean, he's turning down a trip to the Forbidden Forest to do homework! Completely mental, my brother."

"Alrigh', ready? Yeh can just leave yer bags here if yeh want."

Tonks shrugged her book bag off her shoulders and set in down beside a chair next to Charlie's book bag. The two then followed Hagrid out of the hut and began making their way towards the forest, the unicorn following closely behind them and nipping at Charlie's fingers. The darkness could not hide Charlie's blush at the unicorn's obvious favoring of him now that Bill was gone, and he immediately grabbed a hold of Tonks' hand.

"Scared, Weasley?" she joked as they entered the wooded area.

"Don't be daft," Charlie replied heatedly. "I just want it to look like the unicorn's nipping your hand instead of mine." As if reiterating Charlie's point, the unicorn nipped playfully at their interlocked hands.

"Ouch! Bloody…" Tonks whispered, bringing her bitten fingers to her mouth. "I'm sorry, Weasley, but I don't love you enough to get eaten alive by a unicorn."

Charlie brought his hands over his heart in a wounded manner, but his smirk told Tonks that she hadn't really offended him. She smirked back at him, though she felt a slight pang of rejection.

"Ah! If yeh two would look over there, you'll see some fairies," Hagrid informed them, pointing to their right.

Charlie's smile contorted into a grimace.

"Fairies!" he exclaimed disappointedly. "I came into the Forbidden Forest to see forbidden things! You know, dangerous stuff! Not bloody fairies!"

Hagrid chuckled.

"Fairies can be damn dangerous, Charlie," he said. "Lure men to their demise, they do."

Tonks stared at the glowing group of fairies, noting how beautiful and scantily clad they were.

"They're not luring me anywhere," Charlie reasoned. He was standing a few feet away from them, his hands in his pockets and seemingly quite at ease with himself, though his eyes were fixated upon the gyrating bodies of the fairies.

"Give it a year or two and they will," Hagrid informed.

Tonks watched, horrified, as one fairy beckoned Charlie to come closer. For a moment, Charlie leaned forward, as if he had every intention of walking towards her, but then he shook his head, turned on his heel and began following Hagrid deeper into the forest.

Tonks took a moment to give the fairies a particularly evil glare before scurrying forward to join Charlie.

For the longest while, the trio walked in silence. They passed nothing but trees, and the boring scenery was disappointing Charlie greatly.

"If Dumbledore really doesn't want us students to come in here without supervision, all he has to do is tell us how ruddy boring it is!" Charlie exclaimed. "We've been walking for at least a half an hour; it's dark out; and still we haven't seen anything but a clump of stupid fairies!"

Hagrid glanced at Charlie out of the corner of his eye, his mouth turning upwards in a knowing smile.

"Alrigh' this is where we stop," he said, holding out an arm to prohibit Charlie from going any further. "The unicorns are in tha' clearing in front of us," he explained, pointing to the clearing. Charlie and Tonks both crept slightly closer to the edge of the trees, staring, awestruck, at the herd of unicorns.

"They're so cool," Tonks commented, turning back to smile at Hagrid.

"D'yeh want to take the little one to them, Tonks? I expect they won' mind yeh."

Tonks immediately looked at Charlie.

"Go on, Tonks," Charlie replied, nudging her forward.

Tonks smiled back at the two as she made her way into the clearing, the baby unicorn following at her side. Once they reached the herd, Tonks was unsure of what to do. The baby unicorn scampered off, leaving Tonks alone. One older unicorn approached her, and she tentatively patted it.

"You're welcome," she said before turning on her heel and heading back across the clearing to rejoin Charlie and Hagrid. She was halfway there when she suddenly heard a rumbling and noticed that the ground was vibrating slightly.

Frozen in fear, Tonks turned her head to the side to see a herd of what appeared to be animals that were half horse half eagle rushing directly towards her. She was only vaguely aware of her name being called.

"TONKS! LOOK OUT!"

Tonks felt herself yanked forward, and she collided into Charlie's chest; he had rushed out from the trees and pulled her to safety.

Shaking uncontrollably, Tonks buried her face in Charlie's chest, listening to his heartbeat and feeling comforted as he wrapped his arms around her to stop her shaking. For a few moments, she could hear nothing but the pounding of hooves, and then…

"Whoa," Charlie said in an awed whisper.

Curious as to what had captured Charlie's attention, Tonks looked up from his chest to see that the entire forest had seemingly sprung to life. Creatures of all shapes, sizes and colors were entering the clearing, some flying, others gradually emerging between the branches of trees.

Charlie looked enthralled, his eyes wide, his lips forming a smile, and his arms still wrapped tightly around Tonks.

"I love this place," he whispered.

Tonks didn't reply; she merely took in the scenery. With Charlie.

---

**End Author's Note:** Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays/Winter/Monday Night to the rest of you! I'm posting this as a treat because I have writer's block on Hogwarts High, and I feel as though I need to post something to make up for it. I have to apologize for the sudden leap in time with this fic: going from Christmas to June. The only thing that happened was Bill and Athena breaking up, and I wanted their dating period to be short and I also didn't want to really focus on their relationship. I have my reasons...reasons I might explain in an Author's Note in later chapters. Anyway, I consider this the last of my boring chapters (that I have written so far). The older they get, the more complicated their relationships and problems get, and that's interesting to me. And I have to apologize if I didn't get Hagrid's accent quite right; I've never written him before, really. Um...what else? A few people have commented that these characters aren't as immature as normal kids are at that age, and I agree. I think it's immensely difficult for an adult to go back and accurately capture the voice of a pre-teen. Plus, for whatever reason, when I started developing their characters, I just made them all really mature. I feel as thought there's other things I should talk about or explain better, but my head just is not working tonight.


	7. Florescent Adolescent

**Age of Consent  
Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Six**  
_Florescent Adolescent_

-

Fourteen-year-old Bill Weasley was conscious of two things: his left arm was cold and light was invading his closed eyelids. He inhaled deeply while slowly opening his eyes, blinking a few times as he took in the sight before him. A girl dressed in a blue T-shirt and shorts was tying back the curtains that hung in front of the window in his and Charlie's room. Her long, sandy brown hair covered her face, but that didn't matter because Bill was focused intently upon her bare legs – her long, long legs.

"Oh, you're awake!"

Bill startled, his eyes immediately leaving the legs to gaze at the all too familiar face of Tonks.

_Damn, someone had a growth spurt during the summer!_

"Tonks! What're you…?" Bill said in a rush. He attempted to sit up in bed but realized that he was shirtless and ended up pulling the covers all the way up to his chin. Tonks didn't seem to notice his strange behavior; she was standing between the two beds, examining Charlie's fish bowl of frog spawn that sat on the nightstand between them.

"Your mum sent me up to wake you two," she replied, poking the glass.

"Oh," Bill replied dumbly. With Tonks preoccupied with frog spawn, he examined her more fully. She had definitely grown in height over the summer and probably came within an inch of his own height, yet she was still skinny as a stick. She didn't look like a young woman, but a stretched-out kid, and this calmed Bill's initial shock to the point where he felt relaxed enough to lower his covers a bit.

"Except for McGonagall, the saucy tart!" Charlie exclaimed suddenly in his sleep, flopping over from his side to lie on his back, his arm thrown over his eyes.

Tonks' eyes left Charlie's sleeping form as she sent Bill an amused grin.

"I wish I could say that that's the first time he's mentioned McGonagall in his sleep, but…" Bill waved a hand, indicating Charlie's half-grinning face.

Tonks giggled and skipped over to Charlie's bed, raising both of her hands and slamming them down upon Charlie's stomach. The younger boy immediately sat up on a reflex, his eyes bulging as he emitted an "oomph!" sound.

"Morning, Charlie!" Tonks greeted brightly while Charlie gasped as air filled his lungs again.

"Fuck off, Tonks," Charlie mumbled sleepily once he was able to. He plopped back down, burying his face into his pillow. "Wait!" he exclaimed suddenly, sitting back up, wide awake. "Tonks! You're here!"

Charlie threw back his covers and hopped out of bed, throwing his arms around Tonks' midsection, his head resting on her shoulder. They hugged for the briefest of moments before Charlie pulled back, almost as if he'd been burned.

"Tonks! You're… You're…"

Tonks looked down at herself, blinking in confusion. "I'm what?"

"TALL!"

Bill couldn't help but chuckle at the flabbergasted look upon his brother's face. Giving up on modesty completely, he threw off his own covers and got out of his bed, clad only in boxers. He went up to Tonks and placed his hand just above her head before bringing it to himself to compare their heights. He was right; she was within an inch of his height.

Charlie, however, came up to their shoulders. And he _still_ had baby fat clinging stubbornly to his frame.

"Oh fuck the pair of you!" Charlie exclaimed loudly, crawling back into his bed and pulling the covers over his head.

Bill laughed as he picked up a pair of jeans from the floor and pulled them on.

"Come on, Charlie," Tonks coaxed, sitting gingerly on the edge of his bed. "Girls hit puberty before boys do, everyone knows this."

A muffled response sounded through the covers, but neither Bill nor Tonks could make it out.

"I'm sure Max is still short too," she tried again.

This time she didn't even get a response. She sent Bill a pained expression.

"Forget about it, Tonks," Bill said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room. "He'll come around in his own time. He always does."

They began walking down the stairs to go to breakfast, Bill in front of Tonks, completely oblivious to the girl's thoughtful expression.

"I can make myself shorter," she suggested when they reached the second landing.

"Tonks! No!" Bill stopped suddenly, turning around to give the girl a stern glare. "Never change your appearance for Charlie. Did you learn nothing from the Quidditch incident last year?"

Tonks sighed and looked despondently at her shoes. "I just don't want him to feel left out."

"He won't," Bill replied, continuing his trek down the stairs. "We go back to Hogwarts in a week, and Max will be short and he'll feel better. Besides, I had a growth spurt between twelve and thirteen, so I'm sure it's only a matter of months before he catches up with you."

They entered the kitchen just as Mrs. Weasley was setting a plate of sausages on the table.

"Where's Charlie?" she asked, peering up the stairs as if she expected to see a sleepy Charlie staggering down it.

"He's moping," Bill explained, sitting down at the table and filling his plate with food. Tonks plopped down in a chair next to him; she still looked despondent.

"For Merlin's sake! What's he moping over?" Mrs. Weasley asked, placing her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow at Bill.

"I'm taller than him," Tonks explained, stabbing a sausage with her fork.

"Oh, that's right!" Mrs. Weasley replied brightly, gracing Tonks with a smile. "I noticed that when you arrived this morning. Why, you almost look like you could be Bill's girlfriend!"

Tonks and Bill exchanged glances, fighting to keep from laughing.

"Speaking Bill and dating," Tonks said, smiling mischievously.

"Bill's dating?" Mrs. Weasley asked suddenly. She had been frying eggs, but immediately spun around at the mention of one of her children dating.

"How's Athena, Bill?" Tonks finished. Bill glared at her, but she merely smiled innocently.

"Who's Athena?" Mrs. Weasley asked, inching closer.

"Just a girl I was kind of seeing last year, Mum," Bill replied hastily. "And I don't know how she is, _Nymphadora_," he continued through gritted teeth. "We haven't written to each other all summer."

"Did you have a row?" Tonks asked.

"Not really."

"Then why aren't you writing to each other?"

Bill shrugged. "We haven't talked much since Valentine's. I'm sure we're over. What are you doing here anyway?" he asked, poking Tonks' side. "Did Charlie invite you?"

"No, I was bored, so I asked my mum to ask your mum if it would be okay for me to stay here for a bit."

"Don't change the subject, William," Mrs. Weasley scolded, sitting across the table from him and leaning forward. "I want to hear more about this Athena girl. Who is she? When did you start dating?"

"You don't know her parents. And we started dating in October. But like I said, I'm sure it's over."

"And you didn't tell me? Your own mother!" Mrs. Weasley gesticulated wildly, clearly upset over not being included in her son's life.

"Well, did Charlie tell you about the date he went on with Tonks?" Bill asked suddenly, wanting desperately to push the attention off of himself. Mrs. Weasley's eyes immediately locked upon Tonks.

"You and Charlie are dating?" she asked in an almost delighted voice. It was quite scary how much Mrs. Weasley appeared to like the idea of one of her sons dating Tonks.

Tonks opened her mouth to reply but was prohibited by a loud clamor as Charlie stumbled down the stairs, landing in a heap upon the kitchen floor. He had clearly overheard the conversation about dating Tonks and lost his footing on the stairs as a result. Ginny and Ron immediately ran into the kitchen from the living room to see what the commotion was about and when they saw Charlie on the floor, they went to him, patting him kindly as he righted himself, self-consciously brushing his flaming curls off of his forehead as he did so, his eyes locked firmly on the kitchen table.

"No, I asked Tonks out to show Bill that I could. We went to a Quidditch match as friends," Charlie explained. He picked Ginny up in one arm and Ron in the other. "It was good fun, but that was it."

Mrs. Weasley visibly deflated in disappointment, and Tonks did the same, her shoulders sagging as she remembered that horrible day.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Charlie continued in a surly voice. "Those of us who haven't hit puberty yet would like some breakfast." He settled down in a chair at the opposite end of the table, pulling Ron and Ginny into his lap and glaring at Bill and Tonks.

Bill sighed and let his fork clatter onto his plate. "Come on, Tonks," he said, getting up from the table and nudging Tonks' arm. "We're going out for some air."

-

"Stupid, stupid Charlie! Why does he have to be such a prat about this?" Tonks asked angrily, beating back cattails and wildflowers with a stick as she stalked down a path, Bill following nonchalantly behind her, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I mean…so what if I'm taller! I bet Madison's taller too!" She turned to look at Bill, but he seemed uninterested in her rant.

Huffing in frustration, Tonks turned to her side and threw the stick as far as she could. She watched it soar through the air and land in the midst of wildflowers. It was then that she saw the sparkling gold of reflected sunlight upon water through the trees.

"Is that a pond?" she asked Bill curiously.

He followed her gaze. "Yeah," he replied, his eyes going back to her. "Wanna see it?"

"Sure," she said, her eyes locked upon the glistening golden waters.

"Race ya," Bill said suddenly, springing forward and cutting through the brush. Tonks followed, yelling out obscenities and ignoring the itch of plants slapping her bare legs. Bill beat her to the dock, but not by much, and they were both panting and resting their hands upon their knees as they attempted to catch their breaths.

"You're fast," she told him through pants.

"You too." He smiled up at her. "Long legs have their advantages."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Like making your best friend jealous," she said. She had finally caught her breath and stood upright, placing her hands upon her hips and gazing out at the water.

"Charlie just gets like this," Bill explained. "He still thinks he's the baby of the family even though there're five others that are younger than him."

Tonks snickered, earning a lopsided smile from Bill.

"Do you want to go swimming?" he asked her, gesturing to the water.

Tonks was so taken aback by the suggestion that she actually startled a bit. "I haven't got a swimming suit," she said quickly. Bill shrugged and started taking off his shoes.

"Swim in your clothes."

He straightened and took off his shirt, letting it fall to land upon his shoes. For a moment, Tonks stared at him, and then quickly looked away, blushing. With his shirt on, Bill still looked like a skinny urchin, but with it off, Tonks could see that he was starting to fill out ever so slightly, muscles flexing as he stretched his arms. It was clear that Tonks wasn't the only one who had grown over the summer; peach fuzz was even beginning to appear on Bill's upper lip.

"Won't your Mum get mad?" Tonks asked, keeping her eyes firmly averted from Bill's half-naked form.

"Nah," Bill replied, taking a few steps back before running and jumping into the water. Tonks leapt back from the splash, then peered over the edge of the dock to see Bill surface, brushing his short, wet hair off his forehead. "What's the matter?" he asked, squinting up at her. "Don't like swimming?"

Tonks blushed. "I'm not that good at it, alright?" she admitted testily. Bill shrugged once again.

"The water's not deep. You'll be fine," he assured her.

"And if I drown?"

"You can haunt me."

Tonks smirked down at him. She took her shoes off and gazed dubiously at the water. Bill had gone further out from the dock, floating lazily upon his back, his eyes closed as the sun beat off of his white skin. Holding her breath, Tonks took several steps back before running and jumping off the edge of the dock.

For a brief moment, she felt exhilarated as she soared through the air. Then she crashed through the surface of the pond. All she could hear was the roar of water in her ears and, in her panic, she opened her eyes but could only see murky bubbles. She flailed, wondering how she was supposed to reach the water's surface as her lungs burned for air. Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her and guided her upwards.

"Up you go," she heard Bill say once her head broke free of the water.

"I told you I'm not good at swimming!" she told him between coughs.

"You didn't drown either," Bill replied. He had one arm wrapped under her arms and was using the other arm to swim them back to shallow water. "You can stand here."

Tonks tentatively put her feet down and felt the mush of mud and plants. "Thanks," she said, feeling herself blush.

"No problem," Bill replied. He was swimming circles around her, smiling slyly. "Haven't you swum before, Tonks?" he asked.

"I used to go to the pool with my friends back home, but I mostly just stuck to the shallow end," she admitted. "We played Marco Polo."

"Played what? Sorry." Bill looked confused.

"Marco Polo. It's a water game."

"Sounds fascinating. How do you play?"

"You wanna learn?" Tonks asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Bill nodded.

Tonks smiled slyly. "Alright. I'll teach you how to play if you teach me how to swim properly. If you're up for the challenge that is."

Bill smirked. "Tonks, you're looking at the guy who taught Charlie, the twins, Ron and Ginny how to swim."

"Ginny's three," Tonks pointed out.

"And a damn good swimmer."

"And Percy?"

"He didn't want to learn."

"Idiot."

"My thoughts exactly."

Tonks smiled. "Alright, Bill. Go ahead and _try_ to teach me."

-

"Okay, Ginny, here comes the dragon! Rooooaaaarrrrr!"

The spoon bumped into a firmly and resolutely closed mouth. A bit of oatmeal slopped off the side of the spoon and landed on Ginny's shirt. Charlie gave a defeated sigh and sagged his shoulders.

"Come on, Ginny!" he whined, mopping up the spot of oatmeal from her shirt with a washcloth. "I can't leave the table until you eat your oatmeal. You can't leave the table until you eat your oatmeal. So why don't you just do us both a favor and eat your oatmeal?"

"No!" Ginny answered, pushing the bowl away from her. She attempted to get off of the chair that she was sitting on, but Charlie was too quick for her and had her in his lap within seconds.

"Okay, kid, I'll reason with you," he said, bringing the bowl closer to them. "I'll take a bite, then you'll take a bite. We'll eat it together, how about that?"

Ginny didn't say anything; she merely eyed her brother angrily. Charlie ignored her look and brought a spoonful of oatmeal to his lips. "Mmmmm," he said, swallowing the oatmeal and dipping the spoon back into the bowl. "Your turn," he said, holding the spoon at Ginny's lips.

Ginny sighed, her tiny shoulders slumping with defeat as she obligingly opened her mouth. "That's my girl," Charlie complimented, quickly swallowing another mouthful before bringing the spoon back to Ginny.

The bowl was nearly empty when a large eagle owl entered the kitchen and dropped a letter in front of Charlie before swooping out of the window once more. Charlie immediately noticed the elegant curves of Max's handwriting.

"Alright, Ginny, you're done. Go find Ron," Charlie said quickly, setting his sister down and giving her a slight push towards the stairs. He waited until her red pigtails were out of view before ripping open the letter.

_Dear Charlie,_

_I'm 152 cm tall. Why do you ask?_

_Max_

"Tonks!" Charlie immediately yelled, grasping the letter and running into the living room. "Tonks! I have fantastic news!"

The curtains that enclosed the couch immediately opened with a flourish as Tonks, clad in a turquoise, one-piece swimming suit jumped out, eyeing Charlie curiously.

"Tonks, you're…in a swimming suit," Charlie stated stupidly. He blinked rapidly as Tonks' short, mousey brown hair lengthened and turned turquoise to match her swimwear.

"Yeah, Mum brought it last night while you were sulking about my height to Ginny and Ron in the nursery," she explained, pulling her newly turquoise hair into a ponytail and smirking at Charlie. "Bill and I are going swimming again today."

"Oh," Charlie replied. He felt a hot, prickling sensation on the back of his neck. "You and Bill best mates now, are you?"

Tonks sighed and settled down upon the armrest of the couch. "Charlie, you know you will always be my best mate. But what was I supposed to do while you were sulking? I can't help it if I'm tall!"

"Actually, Tonks, _you_ can."

A blush rose in her cheeks as she stared fixatedly at her bare feet. "Yeah, well, I'm not going to," she mumbled.

Charlie rubbed a hand over his face in a frustrated fashion. "Well, never mind all that. It doesn't matter. I just got a letter from Max," he explained, brandishing the piece of parchment in front of Tonks' face.

Tonks looked up, her eyes following the letter eagerly. "Really? I haven't heard from him in ages! Is he having a good summer?"

"No idea," Charlie stated distractedly. "But according to this, he's exactly one centimeter shorter than me!" He held the letter closer to her face so that she could see it.

Tonks laughed.

"What's so funny?" Charlie asked, taken aback.

"You are," Tonks replied, smiling up at him.

Charlie opened his mouth to retaliate, but Tonks cut him off.

"Come swimming with us today, Charlie," she said.

"Yeah, mate, come along," Bill said, entering the room. He was clad in swimming trunks and had two towels draped around his shoulders. He threw one at Tonks before turning back to face Charlie. "Tonks'll teach you this fantastic game called Marco Polo."

"Marco What-now?" Charlie asked, confused.

"It's a Muggle water game," Tonks explained.

Charlie's gaze shifted between Tonks and Bill. Truth be told, he really didn't feel like going swimming, but he also didn't want to leave his older brother and best friend alone together. _Something_ had changed in the way that Bill looked at Tonks; it was a subtle shift, barely even noticeable. Charlie didn't think that his older brother _fancied_ the girl, but the younger Weasley had caught him throwing appreciative glances her way, and he didn't appreciate _any_ bloke looking at his best friend that way, much less his own brother.

"Yeah, alright," Charlie replied as brightly as he could. "Just let me write back to Max and put my trunks on."

"We'll meet you out there then," Bill said, taking Tonks' hand and leading her outside. Tonks sent a smile and a wave at Charlie over her shoulder, and Charlie stared at their retreating backs for a moment before dashing up the stairs and entering his room. He pulled out a scrap of parchment and a quill and immediately began writing.

_Max,_

_Tonks had a growth spurt over the summer, and her sudden increase in height has me feeling very short indeed. So I was curious about your height. Thanks for not hitting puberty, mate._

_Anyway, Tonks is staying over for the remainder of the holidays, and if you would like to join us, you're more than welcome. Just have your mum notify my mum._

_I've got to go now. Tonks is marking Bill's polo in the pond or something._

_Charlie_

Charlie immediately sent the letter off and barely even saw Errol disappear into the clouds before he changed into his swimming trunks and ran out to the pond, breathing a sigh of relief when he found Bill and Tonks swimming in the water with the twins, Ron and Ginny.

"There he is!" Tonks exclaimed happily, getting out of the water and rushing towards him, throwing her arms around him and engulfing him in a wet hug. She broke away before his mind could really register the hug, and he stood, slightly disoriented for a moment and half aware that his chest and shoulders were now wet. Tonks was smiling widely at him. "Ready to learn how to play Marco Polo?" she asked, punching him playfully on the arm.

"Almost," he replied, one corner of his mouth pulling upward in a sly grin.

Tonks' face clouded with confusion. "Almost?"

"Yeah," Charlie admitted, bringing his hands to her side and slowly guiding her closer to the dock's edge. "There's something that I have to do first." And with that, he wrapped his arms around her and used his weight to hurl them both over the dock's edge, sending them crashing into the water.

-

"And one two three…and one two three…and…"

"OUCH!"

"Oh, God, Bill I'm _so_ sorry!" Tonks felt her face flush with embarrassment as Bill squeezed her hand and screwed up his face in pain.

"S'ok, Tonks," Bill replied lamely. "You'd think my toes would be numb by now."

"Now, now, Tonks, dear, please watch where your feet are going," Mrs. Weasley chastised for what must have been the fifth time that night. The older woman offered a kind smile, but the wrinkle between her eyebrows informed Tonks that Mrs. Weasley was finding the whole Teaching The Children To Dance idea very arduous.

"Mum, why are we doing this?" Charlie whined. He was in a particularly testy mood seeing as he had been paired with Percy as a dancing partner. He had originally put up a fuss over this arrangement, stating that if he _had_ to learn how to dance, he wanted to be partnered with a girl; but Ginny was too small, Mrs. Weasley too tall, and Tonks had already been claimed by Bill.

"Charlie, someday you'll attend a dance, and then you'll be thanking me for making you do this," Mrs. Weasley explained before launching into her one two threes again.

"It could be worse, Charlie," Tonks joked, flashing her best friend a grin as she and Bill attempted to waltz once more. "You could have been paired with me and have mostly numb toes by now."

Charlie sent Tonks a heated stare. "I'd rather dance with you than Percy," he stated moodily. "Ouch! Bloody hell, Perce!"

"Sorry, Charles, my foot must have slipped."

"You bloody did that on purpose, you prat!"

"Charlie! Percy! Would you please stop squabbling and get back to dancing?"

Tonks tuned everyone out, her mind focusing solely upon what Charlie had said: '_I'd rather dance with you than Percy.'_ Of course, given the relationship between Charlie and Percy, Charlie probably would have preferred dancing with Bill or the twins, but there was something in the way he said it – the way he looked at her while he said it – that caused Tonks' heart to skip a beat hopefully.

"Wow, Tonks, you seem to have gotten the hang of it!"

Tonks was brought back to the present by Bill's compliment. While her mind was elsewhere, her body appeared to have taken over, automatically doing the steps so perfectly that she and Bill were spinning circles around the room. Molly was gazing at them happily while Charlie and Percy pulled at each others' hair and clothing behind her.

Tonks was reeling her brain to come up with some witty saying when green flames suddenly erupted in the fireplace and Max stepped out of it, his trunk in hand as he stared politely at the scene before him.

There was a moment of silence before Tonks and Charlie exclaimed, "Max!" and rushed over to their friend, engulfing him in a hug.

"What are you doing here, mate?" Charlie asked, breaking apart to thump Max on the back.

Max gazed at him oddly. "You invited me, you git."

"Oh right."

"Max, is it?" Mrs. Weasley asked, bustling forward and gazing at Max inquisitively. "I'm Molly Weasley. It's so good to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you from the boys." Mrs. Weasley reached out her hand and shook Max's enthusiastically.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Weasley," Max replied, flashing her his trademark, dorky grin. "And may I say you have a lovely home!"

"Oh thank you, dear!" Mrs. Weasley blushed.

"Where should I put my trunk?" Max asked the room at large, his blue eyes locking onto Bill, then Tonks, then Charlie.

"Up in our room," Charlie informed, stooping to help Max carry his trunk. "You'll be kipping in with me and Bill." The boys headed up the stairs, Bill following behind as a sort of safe guard incase one of them stumbled and fell.

"Come along, Tonks, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, patting Tonks' shoulder before briskly entering the kitchen. "Max looks like he could use some tea. So pale, that boy. Looks like he spent the entire summer inside."

Tonks bit her lip, opting not to tell Mrs. Weasley the real reason that Max was pale. While a part of her didn't think that Mrs. Weasley would be prejudiced against vampires, another part of her realized that the Weasley matriarch was an overprotective mother, and Tonks was not quite ready to be disillusioned by the adults in her life. Therefore, she kept quiet and listened to Mrs. Weasley prattle on about the weather as the two fixed some tea.

The boys joined them in the kitchen several minutes later and the rest of the evening passed amicably with Max telling them stories about his time spent at his family's summer home in Romania.

"Dragons?" Charlie asked, his face showing his complete fascination. "Real dragons?"

"No, Charlie, fake ones," Max joked, grinning mischievously at his friend. "The reserve's about sixty kilometers from the house. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of a dragon flying overhead, but I've never seen one up close before."

"You are the luckiest boy in the world!" Charlie stated in all seriousness, gazing avidly at the blonde. Max waved him off and stifled a yawn.

"I'm tired too," Bill said; he had been resting his head upon the table for the last fifteen minutes and seemed to take Max's yawn as an invitation to go to bed.

"Yes, well, you're old," Charlie replied, scowling at his brother.

Max laughed softly and rose from the table. "I'm tired too, mate."

Charlie glared at Bill and Max's retreating backs as they ascended the stairs, and Tonks became suddenly and rather uncomfortably aware that she and Charlie were the only ones left in the room.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed too," she stated rather quickly, rising from the table and avoiding eye contact with Charlie.

Charlie sighed in a very annoyed fashion. "Alright then, I guess I'll go too!" He stood from the table and walked over to Tonks. "Night," he said, ruffling her hair before bounding up the stairs.

Tonks was immensely aware of the place where Charlie had touched her; it was almost as if he was a flame that had singed her hair. Sighing and rubbing a frustrated hand over her eyes, Tonks entered the Weasley living room and began getting ready for bed.

A half an hour later, she was in that stage between dreams and reality when she was suddenly disturbed by a grumpy, pajama-clad Max stomping into the room, his pillow grasped in his hand.

"They're fighting over whether or not the window should be open!" he huffed. "We went to bed, then Charlie got up and opened the window. Several minutes later, Bill closed it. Then Charlie opened it again. Then Bill closed it again. And now they're flat out arguing over whether the window stays opened or closed!"

Tonks blinked at him before scooting over on the couch. "Come on," she said, patting the space next to her. "Plenty of room."

Max hesitated. "Are we allowed?" He blushed and looked down at his feet. "I mean, you're a girl and I'm a boy and we're not related and…things could be suggested…" he trailed off.

Tonks laughed loudly, throwing her head back.

"This room faces East," she explained through her smile. "The sun will wake you up, and you can go back upstairs before anyone sees."

"Alright then," Max replied, shrugging his shoulders as he approached the couch, placing his pillow on the opposite end from Tonks and getting under the blanket. "Hey, Tonks?" he asked as he made himself comfortable.

"Hmm?"

"Did you talk to Madison at all this summer?"

"I had her over for tea once shortly after school let out. Why?"

"Did she talk about me?"

Tonks opened one eye and smiled slyly at him. "Once or twice." The truth was that Madison had mentioned Max a grand total of fifty seven times. Tonks had counted. "Does Charlie ever talk about me?"

Max smiled kindly at her. "I think you're wasting your energy on the wrong Weasley, Tonks," he told her, nudging her side softly with his foot.

"Huh?"

Max smiled again, closed his eyes and shook his head. "G'night, Tonks."

"Wait, no! What do you mean? Don't go to sleep, you bastard; tell me what you mean!"

Max remained stubbornly silent, smiling like a dweeb into his pillow. After several minutes of poking and prodding him with her foot, Tonks gave up and settled against her pillow, her eyes fixed upon the ceiling, knowing that Charlie was just two floors above her.

_The Wrong Weasley.__Now what the hell does he mean by that?_

She bit her lip in contemplation.

_Mr. Weasley is old and married. Bill seems to think of me as a little kid. The twins and Ron are too young to like girls that way. Is there some Weasley I don't know about? Wait a minute!!!_

Tonks sat up urgently.

"Is it Percy?" she asked Max.

Max did nothing but smile.

"I'm trying to sleep here, Tonks."

Tonks sighed and plopped back down upon her pillow. "Prat," she whispered under her breath.

Max merely smiled.

---

**End Author's Note:** Random bit of trivia...I wrote this chapter before I finished writing chapter 3. I was having problems with chapter three, didn't feel like starting on chapter 4 and had no clue what was going to happen in chapter 5, so I opened a Word document and started writing this. For the longest time, it was my favorite. Puberty makes everything more interesting. I really shouldn't be posting this, but I stopped caring about pacing myself. Believe it or not, this story has a bit more of a plot other than just growing up and love triangles. You just...can't tell right now.


	8. All the Little Pieces

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Seven**  
_All the Little Pieces_

-

"Bloody hell!" Charlie exclaimed in front of her as they stepped onto the Hogwarts Express. "The damn train wasn't this effing full last year!"

Charlie began weaving his way through the students, and Tonks reached out and grabbed a little bit of his shirt so that she wouldn't lose him in the crowd; a moment later, she felt Max do the same to her shirt, and together the three second years made their way down the train, searching for either Madison or an empty compartment, whichever they found first.

"Ah, in here," Charlie stated at last, sliding open a door and entering a compartment. "Hey, Mad! Have a good summer?"

Madison, who was curled up in the corner of the compartment, reading what appeared to be a Muggle teen magazine, looked up when they entered; her smile reached her green eyes.

"Tonks!" she exclaimed excitedly, getting up from her seat and throwing her arms around Tonks in an enthusiastic hug. "You look so lovely, you do!"

"Er…you do too, Mad," Tonks replied, slightly embarrassed.

Madison did look pretty good. Like Tonks, she appeared to have had a growth spurt over the summer. Unlike Tonks, she seemed to have grown in other ways than just height. Tonks vaguely noticed that Max's eyes were latched onto Madison and slightly glazed over.

"I'm feeling unloved over here!" Charlie called out behind Madison.

Madison rolled her eyes at Tonks before turning around to face Charlie. "You look lovely too, Charlie," she stated playfully, throwing her arms around Charlie's neck and bringing him closer in a hug; Charlie's face was buried in her shoulder, she was so tall. He appeared to notice the height difference.

"Fucking growth spurts," he muttered moodily under his breath, breaking away from Madison and settling down on a seat. Max sat next to him and Madison and Tonks sat opposite the boys.

There was a tense, awkwardly silent moment as the four stared at one another, greatly aware of the fact that a great chasm called puberty separated the boys from the girls.

"How many effing first years do we have this year? The train's packed like tissues in a pre-pubescent girl's bra!" Mick shouted as he slid the compartment door open and stumbled through, closely followed by Bill and Athena.

Tonks couldn't help but give a quizzical look at Bill. She had thought that he and Athena had broken up, yet here they were, standing in the same compartment together, almost as if they were friends. Were they friends? Was it even possible to remain friends with someone you had dated?

Mick plopped down next to Max, and Bill settled next to Tonks, his leg brushing hers as he did so; Tonks immediately scooted slightly closer to Madison: It was less awkward for her leg to brush Madison's than Bill's. Bill, noticing her movement, sent her a sly smirk; he looked as though he was almost amused with the situation. Tonks blushed and adverted her eyes from the eldest Weasley.

Seeing that there was no where else to sit in the compartment, Athena walked over to the window and sat on the floor between Madison and Charlie's feet.

"Hey, Charlie," she greeted kindly, smiling up at the younger boy.

"Hi," Charlie replied softly. He looked as confused about Athena's presence as Tonks felt. His chin rested upon his bent knee as he gazed down at the older girl. "Are you still dating my brother?" he asked bluntly. Tonks made a mental note to slap him upside his head once they got off the train.

"Nope," Athena replied quickly. "Who are your friends?" she asked suddenly, looking between Max, Madison and Tonks.

This question appeared to have jolted Mick into life. He immediately leaned forward, pointing animatedly at Madison.

"This is Madison and that's Max," he said. "Their names start with an M like mine does!"

"Thank you, Mick, I would have never of figured that out," Athena quirked, causing Tonks to giggle. The older girl then looked up at her inquisitively.

"This is Tonks," Charlie introduced, noticing Athena's questioning stare.

Athena squinted up at her. "You look familiar."

"You met her before," Bill said quickly. "At the Quidditch match last year, remember? Before we went into the pitch, I stopped to talk to a first year who was looking for Charlie."

Athena's eyes widened in familiarization. "Oh, right, the cute blonde girl in the black dress. Sorry, I didn't recognize you with red hair."

"S'ok," Tonks replied. Her face flushed as she felt Charlie's gaze upon her.

"You wore a dress that day, Tonks?" he asked, his brow knitted in confusion.

Max immediately kicked Charlie, sending him a 'You-Are-So-Stupid' look.

"Speaking of Quidditch!" Mick said quickly before Charlie could yell at Max for his kick. Mick leaned forward and gazed at the two second year boys, a small, mischievous smile spreading across his face as he did so. "The Gryffindor team needs some new blood."

-

"The girls are here," Max announced calmly, his gaze upon the Quidditch stands.

Charlie glanced at the stands to see Tonks and Madison finding a seat. Both girls appeared to be dressed in their pajamas, their pants tucked into furry boots that were apparently all the rage in Paris, though Charlie wouldn't have known that if they hadn't told him. Their hair was pulled into messy ponytails and both girls appeared to be holding toast and glasses of pumpkin juice. Charlie smiled, his stomach muscles relaxing slightly upon seeing them.

"Damn that toast looks good. Why are you making me tryout again?" Max asked, forcing Charlie to shift his gaze from the girls to his friend. Max was the portrait of calmness with his broom resting behind his neck, across his shoulders, and his hands resting on top of it. It was as if he didn't care whether or not he made the team.

"Because it'll be fun, mate!" Charlie explained for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Me and you playing Quidditch together! Beating the Slytherins!"

The corner of Max's mouth pulled upward slightly in a smile. "I'm not much of a jock though; I feel like I might be stealing the position from someone who wants it more than I do."

Charlie waved his friend off. "If you've got more talent than them, then you deserve the position."

Max smirked at him.

"Anything to win the game, eh Charlie?"

"That's right," Charlie replied. He was about to ask Max what he thought about the girls' furry boots, but was distracted with the voices of approaching people.

"Ugh, Mick, they're second years!"

"I was a first year."

"Yes, but you were a twelve-year-old first year."

"They're twelve."

"Grah!"

Charlie's eyes latched onto the two older Gryffindors approaching them. Mick was a step behind the Gryffindor Quidditch captain – a blonde girl named Lorna – furtively whispering in her ear. Lorna was scrutinizing Max and Charlie despondently.

"Just give them a chance, Lorna; they've got balls," Mick said as they reached the two boys. Lorna waved an agitated hand at Mick, silencing him, as if she expected him to crack into a joke about male anatomy. And knowing Mick, he probably would have.

"Alright, which one of you is trying out for beater?" she snapped.

"Me," Max said, raising a hand.

Lorna raised a skeptical eyebrow, taking in Max's pale complexion and skinny arms. "You have the build of a seeker," she told him. "And look like you're about to drop dead at any moment," she added under her breath.

"I'm seeker," Charlie piped up adamantly, choosing to ignore the team captain's remark towards his friend's physical appearance.

Lorna sighed as she roughly handed a bat to Max.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do," she announced exasperatedly; it was clear that she thought Charlie and Max would be nothing more than a hindrance to the team. "You there." She nodded at Charlie. "You're going to try to catch the snitch, and you," her gaze shifted to Max, "are going to try to knock him off of his broom with a bludger. And you!" She rounded on Mick, jamming a furious finger at his chest as if she blamed him for her bad luck with having two second years try out. "Get your bat. Your job is to knock both of them off of their brooms."

A smile pulled across Mick's features as he began walking backwards to where his beater bat lay on the ground. "You're evil, Lorna. Pure evil! This is why I like you, baby!" He flashed her a winning grin and two thumbs up.

"Shut up and do as you're told, Mick!" Lorna shouted at him as he winked and mounted his broom.

Charlie and Max exchanged momentarily frightened glances before following suit.

The tryout passed in a blur. Charlie vaguely recalled dodging a few bludgers, and noted with pride when Max managed to aim a bludger at Mick, knocking the older boy off his broom; but the time passed all too quickly, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, snitch firmly in hand.

"Well done, mate!" Max exclaimed, jumping off of his broom and rushing towards Charlie with a wide smile on his face. There was a chorus of female cheering in the stands, and Charlie turned and happily waved the snitch at the girls. Max also waved at the girls, but then winced and began rubbing his shoulder.

"Alright, you two are good, I'll give you that," Lorna said briskly, suddenly coming up behind them like a giant cloud of doom. "I talked it over with the others, and we're all willing to let you on the team."

Max and Charlie beamed at one another.

"However!" Lorna cut in, bursting their happy bubble. She jerked a finger at Max. "You need to start doing push ups. A match will last a lot longer than what you went through today, and we don't need you getting tired halfway through. And you," her finger pointed at Charlie. "You need to hit puberty or something."

"Believe me, I'm trying!" Charlie exclaimed exasperatedly in his defense. No one seemed to understand how hard he was working to get a damn growth spurt! He was currently under the impression that his mother had lied to him all his life: Broccoli did not help you grow big and strong!

Lorna smirked at him. "Long limbs are beneficial to seekers. You're good now, but we think you'll be fantastic after you grow a bit. So don't go off and do anything that'll stunt that growth."

"I won't! I promise I won't!"

Lorna graced them with an apparently genuine smile. The boys could tell that this was a rarity for her, seeing as a pink tinge spread across her visage and she immediately covered her hand with her mouth and turned away, walking to pick up some discarded brooms.

Max and Charlie smiled once again at each other before Mick rushed up to them and engulfed them in a congratulatory hug. There was another scream from the stands as the girls rushed down to join them, pushing first years out of their way.

"Charlie, you were great!" Tonks shouted as she threw her arms around his neck. Tonks' scent, a mix of flowers and baked goods, washed over Charlie as the wind blew her ponytail into his face. "This is fantastic!" she continued, breaking away from him and glancing between the boys. "We should have a party or something."

"A party, eh?" Charlie echoed in a conspiring manner.

-

Bill was in his room, lying in bed on his stomach and eating chocolate frogs while doing his Transfiguration homework when the walls suddenly started thrumming with the hum of loud music coming from a floor below. He scowled and reached for his nightstand to grab his ear plugs when he suddenly froze: Charlie's dormitory was a floor below his.

"Oh shit!" he muttered under his breath as he sprung from his bed and hurtled himself down the stairs. The door to Charlie's dorm was opened and a lanky Ravenclaw 7th year boy was peering curiously into the room.

"Is this the raging party I heard about?" the Ravenclaw asked to no one in particular. Bill eyed the bottle of firewhiskey in the older boy's hand and a sinking sensation occurred in his stomach: This did not bode well.

"Yeah, this is it!" Charlie greeted, coming to the doorway and ushering the Ravenclaw boy in. Charlie's brown eyes latched onto Bill and brightened considerably. "Bill! I made the Quidditch team!" Charlie announced, throwing an arm around Bill's shoulders.

Bill could feel his blood pressure rising. "Charles. Why the bloody hell are you throwing a party in your dormitory?"

"Because Lorna told me not to have it in the common room," Charlie shrugged. Bill opted to glare silently at his brother, and Charlie elaborated: "Have you ever seen Lorna, Bill? Effing intimidating girl. If she wants to study in peace, then I'm gonna let her study in peace, in the fear that she'll sit on me if I don't!"

Bill clenched his jaw and allowed himself to gaze into the room, which appeared to house a forth of Gryffindor as well as a handful of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Tonks and Madison were dancing together upon a bed, and over in the corner, Mick attempted to dance with Athena, who fought him back with her wand. A poof of smoke emitted for the tip of her wand, turning Mick's hair bright pink. Athena's jaw dropped in shock, and she immediately raised her hands as if to pacify Mick. Mick, however, merely gazed at his reflection in a nearby mirror for a moment before a large grin spread across his face.

"TONKS, WE TOTALLY MATCH!" he exclaimed, bounding over to join Tonks and Madison on the bed and engulfing his fellow pink-haired friend in a hug.

Bill rolled his eyes and shrugged Charlie's arm off of his shoulder. "I want no part in this," he told his younger brother. "The last thing I need right now is to get on McGonagall's bad side."

Charlie waved him off. "Bill, it's Saturday afternoon! McGonagall is totally having tea with Dumbledore!"

Bill quirked an eyebrow. "You have McGonagall's schedule memorized?" He was beginning to worry about Charlie.

"Have I introduced you to the girls?" Charlie asked suddenly, blushing furiously as he threw an arm around Bill's shoulders once again and led him into the room to where a cluster of girls stood, all of them quite pretty. "Bill, I want you to meet Hannah, Danielle, Kate and Jal. They're my ladies."

All four of the girls smiled widely at the Weasley boys.

Bill shook his head, trying to clear it of all that was happening. His brother did not have ladies! And he definitely was not throwing a rave in his own dormitory!

_THUMP!_

Bill's thoughts of denial were interrupted by the sound of one of the four poster beds giving way and clamoring to the floor. Mick, Tonks, Max, Madison and Athena tumbled down as well, giggling madly. Tonks' smile was wide and her eyes shining as she brushed her vividly pink hair out of her face before proceeding to coax Mick off of her. Bill suddenly felt a protective urge to punch Mick in the face.

"That's my bed, you twats!" Charlie exclaimed, launching himself onto the pile and playfully wrestling with Mick and Max.

Bill was torn between going back up to his own dorm or finding that Ravenclaw boy with the firewhiskey when silence suddenly fell upon the room: McGonagall stood in the doorway, her mouth a thin line as her eyes immediately sought out Charlie as if she was certain that he was the culprit behind the mess.

"Professor!" Charlie greeted awkwardly, disentangling himself from his friends. His eyes shot frantically from the broken bed to the bottle of firewhiskey. "I can explain!"

-

Charlie was shivering slightly as he entered his dormitory late Friday evening. He had just finished helping Hagrid feed a particularly bad tempered raccoon as part of his punishment for having a rave in his room, and the Autumn air of early October had cut right through his sweater.

"One hundred."

"More like ten, but whatever…"

Charlie glanced at his roommates inquisitively. Max was lying on the floor on his stomach, his tongue hanging out of his mouth like an exhausted dog, and Corey was sitting on his bed, lazily flipping through a comic book.

"Max is trying to do push-ups," Corey explained to Charlie without looking up.

"Oh," Charlie said at once, flashing his friend an encouraging smile. "Don't vampires have super-human strength, Maxxie-poo?"

"That comes after puberty," Max explained as he attempted lamely to do another push-up.

"Seriously?" Charlie asked, rounding on the blonde vampire. "I was only joking! So you mean one day you're just going to wake up with, like, a six pack or something?"

Max answered Charlie's question with an apologetic wince.

"Fucking lucky bastard," Charlie swore under his breath. A book suddenly collided with Charlie's arm; he hadn't even seen Max throw it. "Ouch! Watch the arms, mate! That raccoon I had to feed today scratched me up good." Charlie peeled off his sweater and examined his clawed arms.

Max winced when he saw the scratches. "Why were you feeding a raccoon? Doesn't Hagrid deal more with magical creatures?"

"This one was injured, so Hagrid's nursing it back to health. A lot of normal animals are suddenly turning up injured actually. Hagrid wouldn't tell me why, but he hinted at werewolves."

Max tensed visibly at the mention of werewolves, and Corey sprung up from his bed, his comic book falling to the floor. "WEREWOLVES EXIST TOO!?!" he cried out.

"Of course they do, you silly boy," rang out a female voice from behind them. The three 12-year-old boys turned on the spot to see a petite, blonde, fourth-year girl enter their room. Charlie relaxed slightly.

"Oh, Kate, it's just you!"

The girl's face contorted in confusion as her features melted away to reveal a bemused Tonks. "Who's Kate?" she asked. Her hair was pink, but she turned it blue before Charlie could even answer her. "Who's Kate? Does she come into your room often on Friday nights?" Tonks continued, addressing Max angrily for some reason.

Max shook his head adamantly at Tonks; he looked like frightened deer in headlights.

"Kate is just some fourth year who started talking to us once we made the Quidditch team," Charlie explained, backing up slightly when Tonks turned her heated gaze upon him. The girl could throw looks like punches. "The only time she was ever in our room was during the party," Charlie added, sensing that Tonks' anger wasn't quite abated yet.

"But speaking of girls in our dormitory," Max cut in, nudging Tonks in what was meant to be a playful way, although it looked more cautious than playful. "What the hell are you doing here Tonks? And why did you choose Kate to turn into?"

"I saw her at the party and made a mental note that she's a Gryffindor," Tonks replied, shrugging; she appeared to have calmed down. "And I'm here because between Quidditch practice and your detentions, Mad and I never get to see you boys anymore! Which reminds me…" She rummaged around in her borrowed Gryffindor robes momentarily before pulling a piece of parchment out of her pocket. "Madison asked me to give this to you," she said, handing the note to Max.

This bit of information drew Corey back into the conversation. "Is Madison your girlfriend, Max?" he jeered, reaching out for the note in Max's hand as Max snatched it away. "Are you going to get married and have cute little vampire babies?"

There was a blur and then Corey was on the floor, his hand stifling blood from his nose, and Max was perched on top of the wardrobe, sitting cross-legged and reading Madison's note.

"Oh honestly!" Tonks huffed, sending Max a glare as she marched over and extended a hand to help Corey up. Corey hesitantly gave her his non-bloody hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. Tonks then turned on her heel and headed towards a nearby shelf, standing on her tip toes to reach the first aid kit that was sitting on the top shelf. Her shirt, that didn't fit her in the sense that it was too wide and not nearly long enough, rose up a little, revealing several inches of her lower back.

The little expanse of never before seen white skin entranced Charlie for a moment; then he realized that Corey was staring at Tonks as well, and he suddenly bristled with agitation.

"Here, Corey," Tonks called, throwing the Muggleborn a bit of gauze. Corey caught it, blushed, and turned away so that no one would see him plug his nose with gauze.

Charlie was still trying to calm his agitation over Corey's obvious leering when he suddenly felt a sharp sting in his left arm; Tonks had approached him with some gauze and antiseptic.

"Fuck!" Charlie swore, jumping back from his friend and glaring heatedly at her. Who asked her to play doctor? For that matter, who asked her to even come into his dormitory at night in a uniform that didn't fit? Didn't she realize that guys like Corey would stare at her?

"Sorry, Charlie, do you want to do it yourself?" Tonks asked, blushing as she held out the gauze and antiseptic.

Charlie snatched them away from her. "Maybe you should get back to Hufflepuff before someone finds you here and I get into more trouble, Tonks," he said as civilly as he could – which wasn't very civil at all. The words came out in somewhat of a hiss, and he was all too aware that he was still glaring at her.

Tonks' eyes narrowed suspiciously; she obviously sensed that he was upset over something. Max had also stopped reading his note and was gazing questioningly at Charlie from his place on top of the wardrobe. Tonks looked up at the blonde vampire.

"Max, will you see me out?" she asked, turning a cold shoulder to Charlie.

Max immediately shoved the letter in his pocket and jumped down from the wardrobe. "Sure, Tonks," he replied. He waited as Tonks approached him, and when she reached him, he placed a hand on her lower back, slightly tugging her shirt down while staring pointedly at Charlie, reminding him that he had leered too.

Charlie glared as his friends disappeared from the room. Who was Max to remind him that for a split second, he had forgotten that Tonks was anything but a girl?

-

"What's wrong, Nymphadora? I can feel the icicles emanating from you all the way in the library!"

Tonks turned to see Bill catching up to her in the hallway. He was dressed in an overly large sweater and worn jeans, and he had a large library book under his arm. It looked as though he had been doing his usual Saturday morning study session.

"You and your freaky sixth sense," she muttered under her breath, facing forward as Bill came up along side her. He was growing again and now stood a good four inches over her. His voice was slightly deeper and the peach fuzz that was on his upper lip was thickening and darkening slightly; Tonks had to remind herself that he was almost fifteen, despite only being in third year.

"A bit testy today, aren't you?" Bill said jokingly, swinging a long arm around her skinny shoulders. "Come on, Tonks, tell me what's bothering you."

Tonks sighed as she pushed aside a tapestry and entered a hidden corridor, Bill following right along, his arm remaining around her shoulders.

"Charlie and I got into a teeny tiny somewhat fight last night, that's all."

"Prat. What did he do?" Bill asked.

"Well, I made myself look like Kate and snuck into his dormitory…"

"Kate?"

"You know…" Tonks altered her features to look like the petite blonde; her clothes stretched uncomfortably across her chest and hips, and yet the sleeves of her sweater ensconced her hands and her jeans cuffs flopped around her feet.

"Oh, right, one of Charlie's ladies."

Tonks reacted without thinking. One moment she looked like Kate and was walking amicably down the corridor with Bill, and the next moment, she looked like herself, blue hair and all, and had Bill forcibly pushed up against a wall. Bill's eyes widened momentarily in surprise before staring at her intently, and his mouth pulled slightly into an amused smirk.

"What do you mean she's one of Charlie's ladies?" Tonks hissed, her fists clenching Bill's sweater. "Are they dating? Charlie didn't seem surprised to see her in his room, though he told me she had only been in there during the party!"

Bill actually had the audacity to chuckle. Tonks tightened her grip.

"Take it easy, little girl," Bill said, gently easing Tonks' fingers away from his sweater. "As far as I know, Charlie barely even knows her and definitely isn't dating her."

Tonks continued to glare at the eldest Weasley, not quite believing him. Bill carried on.

"Look, if it'll make you feel better, Mick and I will keep an eye on Kate. Make sure she doesn't snatch Charlie away from you."

Oddly enough, that did make Tonks feel slightly better. "I suppose so," she mumbled, feeling embarrassed. "Sorry I pushed you up against a wall."

The amused smirk returned to Bill's face. "Don't be. It was fun to see you all riled up. Anyway," his arm returned to her shoulders as he led her further down the corridor. "You snuck into Charlie's room. Then what happened?"

"I don't really know," Tonks admitted. "Everything seemed to be going fine until Max punched Corey, and I went to get a first aid kit. I gave Corey some gauze to stop the bleeding and then all of the sudden, Charlie started acting all huffy and told me, as kindly as he could, though I could tell he was annoyed, to leave."

Bill was chuckling _again_!

"Bill, do you have any idea how effing knackering it is to know you?" Tonks asked him exasperatedly.

"Charlie was just jealous, Tonks," Bill explained through a large smile.

"What?"

"It sounds to me that my little brother has finally hit puberty and realized what a fantastically attractive girl you are!"

"Come off it," Tonks snapped, brushing Bill's arm off her shoulders.

Bill stopped and sent her a pensive, miffed stare. "You really don't see it, do you?" he asked in a soft voice.

"See what?" Tonks retorted, eyeing him suspiciously.

Bill reached out and tucked a lock of Tonks' bright blue hair behind her ear. "How…" he started before clamping his mouth shut, a blush forming across his visage. "Forget it," he said, shaking his head and walking away. "And forget about Charlie; he's an idiot."

"See what, Bill?" Tonks called out to his retreating back, but it was no use; he was gone.

-

Bill's face burned and a strange buzzing filled his ears as he walked away from Tonks. He gritted his teeth and felt like punching something.

_What had come over him?_ He had almost admitted to Tonks that _he_was growing attracted to her! And what the hell was up with that anyway? He wished that he could go back a year to when he thought of Tonks as some cute little girl that hung around his brother, but ever since her growth spurt over the summer, Bill found himself watching Tonks closely, amused and intrigued by the woman she was slowly growing into. True, he didn't _fancy_ her; but he was having a hard time wondering why Charlie couldn't see how attractive Tonks was becoming.

"Hey, Bill!"

Bill half-heartedly nodded at the petite blonde passing him, then paused and spun around.

"Kate! Hi!" he said in a rush, remembering his promise to Tonks to keep an eye on his fellow Gryffindor. Kate stopped and slowly turned to face him, her clear blue eyes roving up and down his frame. Bill felt himself flush under her gaze, and he swallowed a lump in his throat as he attempted to think of something clever to say.

"How are you?" he asked, wincing slightly at how awkward he was acting.

"Fine. You?" she replied calmly.

"Spectacular," Bill answered, his throat dry. Several moments of silence passed in which Kate stared politely at Bill and Bill avoided eye contact. "So…are you going to the Quidditch match next week? Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Should be good."

"Yeah, I'm going."

"Cool! So am I."

Another silence fell over them in which Bill shuffled his feet nervously.

"Are you going to be cheering for Charlie?" Bill asked.

"I guess so," Kate replied nonchalantly with a shrug. "I'll mostly be cheering for Gryffindor in general; Jal's the big Charlie fan in our group; she fancies him like whoa."

This revelation caused Bill to startle a bit, his eyes widening in shock. "Really? Which one was Jal again?"

"Short black girl. Kinda curvy. _Fantastic_ smile. Merlin, I wish I had her smile; I'd really be raking the boys in if I had her smile."

Bill's eyebrow shot up as he gazed at Kate quizzically. He was quite certain that she had no problems getting guys. She was short, so her legs weren't all that fantastic, but she had a really impressive chest for a fourth year and long, blonde hair that looked soft and shiny.

"So why are you so interested about Charlie's love life anyway?" Kate asked, and Bill shook himself slightly, a blush burning across his face when he realized that she had caught him staring.

Bill opened his mouth to explain about Tonks, but stopped himself, fearing that he might be betraying her by revealing her crush to Kate. "No reason," Bill muttered quickly, glancing down at his feet again.

Kate's lips pulled into a slow smile as she observed Bill. "You're kinda adorable, you know that?"

Bill winced; 'adorable' was the word he used to describe Ron and Ginny.

"Yeah, thanks," he answered gruffly, glancing up and taking a few steps back. "Anyway, I have some studying that I need to do, so I guess I'll see you around." He didn't wait for a reply, but turned on the spot and began quickly walking away. "The things I do for my effing friends," he muttered under his breath.

-

Charlie's punishment was over, but he still found himself going out to Hagrid's after class to help with the animals. The fresh air calmed his pre-game nerves, and the animals were much easier to deal with than his homework and friends.

Tonks hadn't spoken to him all week, and Madison appeared to be on her side as well. Max acted the part of Switzerland and didn't take a side, although Charlie was under the impression that the blonde vampire sympathized with the girls more.

"Dammit, Tonks, why won't you talk to me?" Charlie muttered under his breath as he kicked an empty cage.

"_You're_ the one who's not talking, Weasley."

Charlie spun around quickly, his eyes widening when he saw Tonks standing behind him, her hand on her hip and one green eyebrow arched in irritation into her short, green hair. She stared heatedly at him for a moment before sighing, her shoulders relaxing as her hand dropped from her hip.

"Listen, Charlie, I'm sorry I…insulted your manhood or something that night when I started cleaning up your scratches, okay? I just didn't want them to get infected and…"

"No, Tonks, you don't need to apologize," Charlie stated quickly, shaking his head slightly. The whole fight sounded so stupid from her point of view; Charlie really didn't have a problem with her playing doctor with him; he just had a problem with the fact that she had inadvertently attracted the opposite sex. As far as Charlie was concerned, Tonks was asexual … like Dumbledore. "I was a prat that night. I guess I was grumpy or something," he added, hoping that it would be enough to keep Tonks from pressing the matter.

Tonks stared pensively at him for a moment, and Charlie became increasingly aware that she knew that there was something he wasn't admitting to her. He held his breath, worried that she'll try to get it out of him; however, she smiled slightly and glanced down at her feet, her green locks falling into her eyes. Charlie felt vaguely like they were just burying something that would resurface later.

"Supporting Slytherin now, are you?" he asked jokingly in order to lighten the mood, bringing a hand to tug at her green locks.

Tonks smirked at him. "Hardly," she said, and Charlie grinned as her hair immediately turned red and lengthened, sliding through his fingers like water.

"Anyway," Tonks continued, taking a step back so that Charlie's hand left her hair. "I was actually sent out here by your Quidditch captain, whatserface. She was saying something about how you needed to come eat dinner so that you grow big and strong and not eff up the match with your stubby limbs."

Charlie was so glad that he and Tonks were talking again that he only felt the slightest pang of embarrassment at her jab. He immediately threw his arm around her shoulders and began leading her back to the castle.

"Yeah, well, Lorna's gonna have to watch out. When I grow big and strong, she won't be able to boss me around anymore," Charlie announced.

Tonks threw her own arm around his shoulders; the movement caused a slight shiver to course down Charlie's spine. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Weasley, but by the time that happens, Lorna will probably be out of Hogwarts," she quipped, leaning her head to the side slightly so that it rested against Charlie's, their red hair meshing together.

"Bugger."

Tonks laughed as they entered the castle and headed towards the Great Hall. Charlie could feel her arm leaving his shoulders as she separated to take her place at the Hufflepuff table. His hand quickly encircled her wrist before he even realized what he was doing. Tonks turned and gazed at him quizzically.

"You should eat at the Gryffindor table," he said hurriedly, giving her arm a gentle tug. "You can meet mine and Max's group of ladies. We like to call them 'Charlie and Max's harem of fangirls'."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "I'm not a fangirl," she muttered, although she followed him to the table and sat down, nodding at Max's wave.

"Tonks, these are the Gryffindor girls," Charlie introduced, waving a hand at some of the girls that were sitting by them. "Jal…Danielle…Kate," he said distractedly as Lorna sauntered up to them and began scooping copious amounts of broccoli onto Charlie's plate.

"Hey, Charlie, where's your brother?" Kate asked, leaning over Tonks. Tonks graced Kate with a disdainful scowl.

"He's probably in his room snogging his textbooks or something," Charlie replied, scrunching his face up with distaste as Lorna proceeded to pour a disgusting-looking liquid into his goblet: It was thick, clumpy and light brown in color. "Lorna, what the fuck? That's not pumpkin juice!"

"It's called a protein shake," Lorna replied happily. "Muggles use them to gain muscle mass. Corey had his parents send some in. Max is drinking one too, aren't you Max?" She thumped Max upon the back and the vampire winced and slowly brought his own goblet to his lips.

Corey was smiling smugly as Lorna forced Charlie and Max to take a sip of their shakes. Charlie gave him the finger.

"So, Charlie, is your brother dating that Ravenclaw girl he hangs around with? The one with the horrible hair?" Kate asked, leaning over Tonks again.

"Athena's hair isn't horrible," Tonks snapped indignantly.

"This from the girl who can make her hair do anything she wants," Jal, who was sitting across from Tonks, said rather suddenly. "I haven't seen you sport the incredibly frizzy look yet, Nymphadora."

Charlie's mouth went dry as he observed the girls; it was obvious that they weren't getting along. Tonks was glaring at Kate; Jal was glaring at Tonks; Tonks was shooting a 'Who the fuck are you?' look at Jal; Kate was ignoring both girls and gazing curiously at Charlie.

"Only Bill and my parents can call me Nymphadora, Jal," Tonks replied testily.

Kate's eyes suddenly left Charlie and narrowed at Tonks. "Why Bill? Are you guys related or something?" Kate's eyes flashed back to Charlie questioningly.

"Er…we're not related to Tonks, no. Bill's just always called her that," Charlie explained. "And he and Athena are just friends." Charlie watched in amazement as Tonks' hair suddenly grew fizzy and expanded like a balloon, causing Jal to narrow her eyes more.

"Would he notice if I fancied him?" Kate asked, batting a lock of Tonks' now curly hair out of her face.

"You_fancy_ him?" Charlie asked loudly, completely shocked.

"Just answer the question, Weasley," Kate snapped.

"Well…I dunno. I think you'd have to be, you know, obvious about it," Charlie admitted.

Kate's shoulders sagged slightly as a pensive look crossed her features, her eyes latching onto a certain red head who had just entered the Great Hall.

"Hey, Tonks, get confused over which house you're in?" Bill teased as he sat down next to Jal and across from Kate. Kate slowly licked a little bit of mashed potato off of her fork. Bill sent her a 'What are you doing to your poor fork?' look before returning his gaze to Tonks, who was still having a glaring contest with Jal.

"Hey, Bill, guess what…" Charlie started excitedly, but he was prohibited from going on with his announcement that Kate fancied him by Max pulling his head back and pouring some of the protein shake down his throat. "It's disgusting," Charlie choked, spraying the table and Tonks with clumps of shake. This seemingly brought Tonks out of her staring contest with Jal.

"I'm going back to the Hufflepuff table; you lot are crazy," Tonks announced, using her fingertips to wipe the shake off of her cheek. She brought her hand to Charlie's face, playfully smearing the shake over his eyes and nose, and Charlie teasingly bit her finger. Tonks laughed, sent a highly superior look at Kate and Jal, and walked off.

Bill glanced between a shake-covered Charlie, a brooding Jal and a sulky Kate. "I missed something, didn't I?" he asked before turning to talk with Mick.

---

**End Author's Note:** I really shouldn't be posting this because I think I promised not to until the next chapter of HHII is up. Hopefully I'll get that chapter up soon, but it's not quite finished yet, and God only knows when I'll find the time to finish it. But I've had this chapter just sitting on my computer, and I already posted everything else, so I was like, "What the hell, I'll just put it up." I wish I could say that I have more chapters of this story completed, but I'm still trying to wrap up Chapter 8. It's proving to be the longest chapter in the world. Anyway, a lot of people have been asking me how long I think this fic will be, and my answer is (if I don't give up on it), I plan for it to end at the end of Charlie and Tonks' 7th year. And I'm averaging about 5 chapters for every year that they're in Hogwarts, I think. So we've still got a long way to go...so give me motivation to keep writing! Anyway, if any of you have anything you'd like to see in this fic, feel free to share. I have the main plot worked out in my head, but I could use some filler stuff.


	9. Dart for my Sweetheart

**Age of Consent  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Eight**  
_Dart for my Sweetheart_

-

"You are absolutely pathetic!"

"What?"

"Bringing books to a Quidditch match? Honestly, Athena, even I'm not that geeky!" Bill reached across his friend and grabbed the book from her hands, pulling it away from her.

"Hey!" Athena protested, leaning across him in an attempt to retrieve her book. Her arm and shoulder brushed his chest, causing warmth to spread from the spot she touched. Bill sent her a mischievous grin before sitting on her book.

Athena's shoulders visibly slumped with defeat, her hands coming to rest upon his knees. "William Arthur Weasley, you are impossible," she muttered.

"Aw come on! You know you love me!" Bill replied, smirking as he brought his arms to rest on the back of the stand that they were sitting on.

Athena sighed exasperatedly while facing forward, her hair brushing Bill's arm that was behind her. "Shouldn't you be watching your brother instead of stealing my book?" she asked, vaguely gesturing at the sky where streaks of scarlet and emerald could be seen.

"He's not doing anything just yet," Bill reasoned, his blue eyes finding his brother momentarily: Charlie was hovering above the game, obviously keeping a keen eye on the Slytherin seeker. "Anyway," Bill continued, tearing his eyes away from the game to glance inquisitively at his friend, "if you don't like Quidditch, why do you come?"

"If I didn't, you'd have no one to sit with," Athena teased, and Bill felt a momentary lurch in his stomach when he realized that she was right: Both his brother and his best friend were now on the team.

"I could sit with Tonks and Madison," Bill reasoned feebly.

"They're Hufflepuffs!" Athena shot back.

"So? I can sit with the Hufflepuffs; they love me! Besides," Bill sent her what he hoped to be an alluring smirk, "you're Ravenclaw."

Athena's head quickly turned, her mouth agape as Bill caught her in her own reasoning. A chuckle resonated in Bill's throat at his friend's comical facial expression.

"Well maybe I come to these things to hang out with you!" Athena admitted heatedly, facing forward once again and crossing her arms moodily.

"I love you too," Bill jokingly replied, bringing his arm down to settle around Athena's shoulders, pulling her close.

The two sat in amicable silence for a little while as they watched Mick and Max hit bludgers back and forth, and Bill ruminated on how comfortable he felt sitting with his arm around Athena. The crush that he had had on her the year before had dissipated into a genuine friendship. They shared a common bond in being smart, aloof and a year older than most of their classmates; this bond was obviously strong enough to override the awkwardness of them having once shoved their tongues down each others' throats.

"I think we're making someone jealous," Athena commented softly, nodding down the stands to where a blonde was giving them a scrutinizing stare.

"Kate?" Bill asked, his eyes latching onto the blonde, causing her to blush and turn away.

"She fancies you, you know," Athena went on, playfully nudging Bill in the ribs.

"Really!?" Bill felt a tug in the lower part of his stomach; he honestly had had no idea.

"Yeah, she's been following Charlie around in an effort to get closer to you."

"Really? I thought she was just following Charlie around because, I dunno, she likes Quidditch players or something."

Athena merely smirked and nudged his side again.

"What, woman?" Bill asked, rubbing the spot between his ribs.

"So what are you going to do about Kate?"

"I don't know; I just found out about this! What do you think I should do?"

Athena pretended to look pensive for a moment. "Well, if I'm correct in assuming that you haven't had a proper snog since February 14th…"

"Which is totally your fault, by the way. If you'd have just believed that it really was my wand in my pocket…"

"Then I say you should give her a chance," Athena interrupted, rolling her eyes as though she still didn't believe that it was Bill's wand in his pocket. "But…" Her smirk faded as she flashed him a concerned look.

"But what?"

"Well, Kate…she's fifteen…early birthday and all that. And she's had several boyfriends before. Let's just say that she gets around and…I don't want you to get hurt."

"Well considering that I haven't even decided whether or not I'm going to ask her out…"

"Bill…"

"I'll be careful. I promise." Bill sent her a warm smile, his shoulders relaxing when Athena's own lips pulled upward.

"AND WEASLEY HAS DEFINITELY SPOTTED THE SNITCH! HE'S GOING INTO A DIVE!"

Bill immediately stood, leaning over the people in front of him as he attempted to spot his brother. Charlie was diving, his arm outstretched. The Slytherin seeker flew in front of Charlie's broom, but Charlie merely jumped off his broom, bodily flew over the Slytherin, caught the snitch and landed on his broom again to thunderous applause.

"YES!" Bill exclaimed, triumphantly punching the air in front of him. "Did you see that?" he asked, rounding on Athena. The girl in question, however, had her nose firmly planted in the book that Bill was no longer sitting on. Bill's shoulders slumped as he shook his head at his friend. "You are such a nerd."

-

"Tonks, he's over here," Madison exclaimed urgently, grabbing Tonks' hand and leading her down the stands.

Tonks followed Madison's gaze to see a tall red head threading through the crowd of students leaving the pitch. "BILL!" she called out as they rushed after him. "BILL!"

Bill entered a building that connected to the pitch and Tonks and Madison followed, throwing their arms around his mid-section once they caught up with him.

"Ah! Nymphadora! Mad! What the hell?" Bill exclaimed, obviously shocked, his eyes darting from one girl to the other. He had his arms raised in alarm as if he thought he wasn't allowed to touch them.

"Bill, you've got to get us into the Gryffindor party tonight!" Tonks pleaded.

"Eh?"

"Come on, Bill! Charlie and Max are our best friends! We need to be there to celebrate with them!" Madison reasoned.

"Alright, alright already!" Bill muttered, brushing the girls off of himself. "I'll get you in."

"Thanks, Bill!" Tonks exclaimed, latching back onto him in a hug. Bill's arm snaked around her waist for the briefest of moments before he brushed her off once again and continued walking.

Having nothing better to do, Tonks and Madison followed, gazing curiously at their surroundings. It wasn't until Bill threw open a nearby door that Tonks realized where they were. Steam and loud voices emitted from the room, and when Tonks peered around Bill, she saw several male Gryffindors walking around with white towels around their waists.

"Oh…" Tonks stated, her eyes wide with shock.

"My," Madison finished, her face a replica of her friend's.

Bill smirked over his shoulder at them.

"HEY, WEASLEY! YOUR BROTHER'S HERE!" Mick shouted as he walked past them in a towel.

Tonks felt Madison's fingers slowly enclose around her own as Charlie and Max emerged from a blocked off area, their hair wet and plastered to their foreheads and nothing but white towels covering their waists.

"BILL! DID YOU SEE HOW AWESOME WE…" But Charlie's words were cut off as he noticed Tonks and Madison standing just behind Bill. He flushed considerably and sputtered for a moment before lashing out at Bill. "WHAT THE HELL, MAN? YOU BROUGHT GIRLS INTO OUR CHANGING ROOM!"

There was a peal of laughter from the other players, and Tonks had a sinking suspicion that she wasn't the first nor the last girl to enter the boy's changing room. Charlie continued to rave, however, and Tonks took the chance to gaze at him and Max. Her stomach lurched slightly when she realized that the boys had finally caught up with her and Madison in height. They still possessed the lanky physique of young boys, and Charlie's face was still round with stubborn baby fat, but it was clear that they were now on the brink of puberty. Tonks' grip on Madison's hand tightened, and her friend returned the squeeze in agreement.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE LIKE AN IDIOT, BILL! SAY SOMETHING, YOU DAFT PRICK!" Charlie continued, bringing Tonks out of her musing about boys and growth spurts.

Bill shook himself slightly, as if coming out of a trance. "Max, what's that around your neck?" he asked at last, and Tonks realized for the first time that Max had what appeared to be a pendant around his neck: It was circular with a tiny red gem in its center that flashed with reflected light.

Max's hand immediately enclosed around the pendant, a blush forming on his cheeks and his eyes shifting to the side. "A family heirloom," he muttered quickly.

"He wears it all the time," Charlie added, brushing the topic off with a wave of his hand. Bill, however, did not appear satisfied.

"It's pulsing," the eldest Weasley announced softly, gazing with concern at Max.

Max looked like a deer in headlights, his eyes darting between each one of his friends. Even Charlie was gazing quizzically at him now. The blonde vampire opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it and turned on his heel, entering a blocked off area. Charlie and Bill followed and, after a moment's hesitation, Tonks and Madison entered as well to see Charlie and Max pulling jeans on under their towels.

"Listen, Max, just be honest with us," Bill said, leaning casually against the wall. "We already trust you; nothing can change that."

Max had his back to them, but they could see his shoulders sag as he picked up his shirt. "It's a tracking device," he said at last, not looking at any of them as he pulled his shirt on.

"Tracking device?" Charlie asked, his brow furrowed in concern. "Who's tracking you?"

"The Ministry," Max replied simply, reaching for his trainers.

"That's bullocks!" Bill exclaimed angrily. "Do they track all vampires?"

Max shook his head moodily. "Just ones like me."

"One's like you?" Tonks asked, confused. Her stomach acid was churning in disgust with the Ministry. How could they do this to someone so young and affable like Max?

Max's blue eyes finally looked up at them, and Tonks noted that Charlie and Bill had unconsciously drawn closer to her and Madison; it was as though the four of them were staring Max down.

"Vampires with Wizard blood," Max explained, his voice cracking slightly. He looked so small all of the sudden, and Tonks felt Madison grab her hand once again. "We're not normal," Max added softly, pink flush appearing momentarily on his cheeks as he gazed firmly at the ground.

"Well can't you just take it off and chuck it somewhere?" Charlie asked, his brow knitted in agitation.

"It's charmed to stay on me," Max replied. "It can only come off by cutting off my head, and that'll…"

"Kill you," Charlie finished, his face falling in disappointment.

Max nodded, raising his head to gaze forlornly at them, his eyes piercing.

Tonks' mind felt momentarily fuzzy, as if a bunch of white noise existed in her head, but just as soon as the sensation appeared, it cleared again. Beside her, Charlie was shaking his head, and in front of her, Max looked sickly pale and scared.

"Max," Madison said softly, taking a step forward.

Her movement caused Max to jump slightly. He immediately grabbed his bag and attempted a wide smile, but his normally dorky grin was distorted and lifeless.

"Let's not talk about it," he said. "It doesn't matter anyway. We have a party to get to!" he walked forward, passing them. "You'll be able to get the girls into the common room, right Bill?" he asked, turning to look at Bill. Bill, who's mouth was in a thin line, nodded. "Great! I'll see you guys up there, then!" Max finished before more or less running out of the changing room.

The four of them stood in silence for a moment as Charlie continued to pull on clothes. "We should just drop it," he said at last, drawing the others our of their thoughts. "He'll talk about it when he's ready. But right now he obviously wants to enjoy the party, so we should too!"

Tonks exchanged worried glances with Bill and Madison, but none of them wanted to ruin Charlie's triumph. And he was right. It was horrible that the Ministry was tracking Max, but there was nothing the four of them could do about it.

_Not yet, anyway._

"Alright, girls," Bill said, wrapping an arm around both Tonks and Madison. "Let's sneak you into the Gryffindor common room."

-

Charlie felt conflicted. He felt partly ecstatic, realizing that they were heading to a party that would more or less be for him, that everyone would want to pat him on the back and congratulate _him_. He felt as though he was finally coming into his own, defining who he was as a person, not just a Weasley.

However, his feeling of elation was partly smothered by the realization that his friends were worried. Despite putting up a brave front, Max had obviously been bothered by his admittance about being tracked. Charlie didn't quite understand his friend's discomfort with the situation, but it was clear that he did feel uncomfortable with it.

Bill was hard to read. Obviously, the eldest Weasley had been worried in the locker room, but Bill had always possessed some strong, calm front that allowed him to keep his head in stressful situations. He was currently leading the small group towards the Gryffindor common room, his hands in his pockets and his head held high as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Madison followed closely behind Bill. With her eyes resolutely fixed upon the Gryffindor entrance, she appeared to be filled with a sudden determination, a girl on a mission to no doubt find Max to confront and comfort him.

Tonks walked slowly alongside Charlie. She looked dejected, her frame slumped as she fretted over their vampire friend. Charlie felt oddly constricted seeing his best friend in such a way. His fingers slowly drifted, almost magnetically, towards Tonks' hand, lightly, shyly brushing her skin before intertwining with her own fingers. Tonks' round eyes looked up at him, and Charlie gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Are you ready, little bro?" Bill asked over his shoulder as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Am I ready for what?" Charlie asked, breaking his gaze away from Tonks to send his brother a quizzical stare. Bill merely smiled devilishly back at him as the portrait opened and basked the small group in a wave of light and sound. Bill and Madison crawled through and immediately got lost in the crowd – the crowd that was inching closer and closer to Charlie, urging him to come in.

Tonks gave his hand an encouraging squeeze and the two crawled in together as the portrait swung shut behind them. Charlie kept a tight grip on Tonks' hand as the crowd pulled him in, offering congratulatory pats on the back and high fives. He smiled at his fans as he led Tonks through the crowd, his worry over Max slowly dissipating with each step into the Gryffindor warmth he took.

The crowd was getting a little rough, pulling him to and fro in their attempt to celebrate. The jostling made him slightly lightheaded, a feeling that only intensified when Tonks leaned in close and whispered, "I'm going to find Mad and Max," in his ear, her breath stirring the small hairs on his neck. He turned his head, his nose a mere few millimeters from hers, and nodded.

And then she was gone, swallowed up in the crowd. He began to hear the music playing and could recognize the blur of faces in front of him. Mick engulfed him in a bone-breaking hug, Lorna patted him on the back, and Corey rushed up and gave him a high five, yelling something about him being an 'awesome git'.

His new celebrity was suffocating, the crowd a bit claustrophobic, and Charlie found himself struggling to break free. He pushed his way around dancing groups and couples only to practically bump into a pretty girl with lovely dark eyes and skin.

"Charlie!" she exclaimed, her lips pulling into a warm smile. "Here, I got you a drink." She offered him a cold bottle of Butterbeer that Charlie hazily accepted as his mind registered who she was.

"Thanks, Jal," he replied thickly. He looked around them. "Where are the rest of my ladies?" he asked; they always came in a group.

"It's just me tonight," Jal replied quickly.

Charlie's eyebrows disappeared into his hair as he took a sip of his drink. "Cool," he replied nonchalantly. His eyes began to rove around the crowd once again, searching for his brother or friends.

"Do you wanna dance?"

His eyes snapped back to Jal. "Pardon?"

Her smile played across her features again. "Dance with me," she said confidently, taking the Butterbeer from his hand and setting it on a nearby table.

Charlie swallowed nervously as she gently took his hand and led him over to the dancing couples. It was a fast song, and Charlie quickly learned that all he really needed to do was jump around a bit. It was too crowded, however, and random people continually bumped into him. He hadn't been dancing for more than a minute when Mick attempted a questionable dance move that knocked Charlie, causing him to grab Jal's waist for support. For a moment he thought he was dead, but then Jal placed a hand on his shoulder and continued dancing, albeit much closer to him.

And that was when Charlie Weasley hit puberty. It rushed over him like a wave, causing him to drown in Jal's chocolate brown gaze.

-

"Bloody hell, where are you guys?" Tonks asked exasperatedly to no one, pushing her hair off of her sweaty forehead as her eyes roved around the crowd. She had been looking for Madison and Max for the past fifteen minutes, but could only find rowdy Gryffindors, some of which were consuming vast amounts of alcohol, while others were practicing procreating the world.

"Hey, Tonks," Bill greeted, coming up to her. "Enjoying the party?"

"I can't find…" but Tonks stopped mid-sentence as her eyes found the cluster of people dancing. Charlie was amongst them, his arms wrapped around Jal's waist as they rocked back and forth to a slow song, their foreheads almost touching.

Tonks couldn't breathe. It felt as though someone had punched her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. She wanted to scream, to run away, but it felt as though an invisible hand had tightened around her vocal cords, choking her and prohibiting her of speech and her limbs were frozen in place. She watched in sick horror as Jal slightly tilted her head up, her lips lightly brushing Charlie's in a timid kiss.

She didn't realize that her legs had given out until she felt Bill wrap his arms around her, locking just under her arm pits, prohibiting her from falling. People passed in a blur as Bill half dragged, half carried her up a staircase. She was vaguely conscious of Bill talking to her, but his words sounded muffled, as if they were coming to her through water.

They were two stories up when a door swung open and Madison emerged, tears staining her cheeks.

"Bill! Tonks!" the brunette beauty said, sniffling slightly as her eyes went from Bill to Tonks questioningly. "Tonks…are you…?"

"She's fine," Bill said at once, his grip on her tightening.

Madison looked as though she didn't believe him, but she didn't say anything, merely nodded, wiping her eyes once more. "I'll be down at the party," she said before turning and descending the stairs.

Tonks had regained the use of her legs enough to walk up the stairs, still supported by Bill. He led her into a darkened dorm room.

"This isn't Charlie's room," she mumbled almost incoherently.

"It's mine," Bill explained simply, leading her over to a bed by the window and setting her down.

Tonks immediately laid back against the pillows, pulling her knees to her chest. Bill gazed down at her; he appeared both forlorn and frustrated as he ran his hand through his short locks.

"Dora," he said, almost in a sigh, and a slight spark ignited in Tonks' chest at the familiar use of her name.

"I just need to be alone for a little while, Bill," Tonks explained, noting with sick revulsion that her voice sounded weak.

Bill looked like he didn't want to leave her, but nodded anyway, pulling the curtains around his bed and leaving Tonks in the dark.

-

"Yep, this punch is definitely spiked," Mick announced expertly once Bill rejoined the party.

Bill wasted no time in grabbing a cup and dunking it in the punch bowl. He brought the drink to his lips and felt the burn of alcohol down his throat.

"Whoa, Weasley, I didn't realize…" Mick exclaimed, obviously shocked.

"I've had a rough night," Bill explained, turning from the refreshment table to examine the dancing couples. Charlie was still dancing with Jal, and Madison was dancing nearby with Corey. The brunette Hufflepuff continually ignored her dance partner in favor of glaring at Charlie, who was oblivious to everything. Bill felt like punching him.

"Don't tell me you're jealous of Charlie!" Mick exclaimed, misinterpreting Bill's angry gaze. "You know, Weasley, if you really wanted to play Quidditch, you could have tried out…"

"I'm not jealous of Charlie!" Bill retaliated, taking another furious gulp of his spiked punch.

"Then what's the…"

But Mick was interrupted by a petite blonde approaching them, a bottle of Butterbeer in her hand and an alluring smile on her face.

"Hey, Bill!" Kate greeted. "I got you a drink."

"I've already got one, thanks," Bill replied gruffly, his eyes gazing over Kate's head to continue glaring at his younger brother.

Kate's mouth immediately formed a shocked circle before her jaw snapped shut, and she walked away with confusion plastered over her features.

A different female voice suddenly drifted to Bill's ears. "You sure know how to talk to the ladies, Bill."

Bill immediately turned his head to see Athena standing alongside Mick. She was smirking and her arms were crossed over her chest.

"Hello," Bill greeted. "What the hell are you doing here?" The last he saw Athena, she was walking back towards the castle while reading her book; Bill had been pretty much certain that she didn't even know who had won the game.

"Mick hunted me down and dragged me here," Athena replied, shrugging nonchalantly as Mick smirked and rested his elbow on top of her head, his hand tangled in his hair that was still half pink with his black roots showing through; he was beginning to look like some Muggle punk.

"So what's wrong, Bill?" Athena asked, swatting Mick's arm off of her head.

Bill glanced over to where Charlie was still dancing with Jal, and Athena's eyes followed, growing round when she saw the new couple.

"They're cute," she commented. "Do you fancy the girl yourself or…?"

"Tonks saw them kiss earlier," Bill answered softly. He felt like he was slightly betraying Tonks' secret as realization dawned on Athena. Mick luckily remained clueless and scratched his head in confusion.

"Is she okay?" Athena asked.

"I dunno. She seemed really messed up," Bill replied.

"Where is she?" Athena's eyes searched the crowd as if expecting to see a dejected Tonks curled in a corner somewhere.

Bill felt his cheeks burn. "Not here," he stated simply, not daring to announce where Tonks really was.

Athena nodded solemnly. "Well, I'm quite frankly ready to go back to my common room," she stated rather suddenly, and Bill figured that she had been looking to escape the party all evening.

"I'll walk you," Mick replied enthusiastically.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking myself," Athena responded.

"Yeah, well, it's always been a lifelong dream of mine to figure out where the hell the Ravenclaw common room is, so I'm going too," Mick stated, setting his drink down on the table and linking arms with Athena.

Athena rolled her eyes at Bill as she and Mick weaved their way through the crowd and headed towards the portrait hole. Just as soon as they left, the song ended and Madison stalked angrily over to Bill.

"When did Jal sink her claws into Charlie?" she asked angrily, grabbing a paper cup from the table.

"Recently, apparently," Bill replied dryly. He watched with amusement as Madison dipped the cup into the punch bowl and brought it to her lips, only to spit the liquid out, coughing slightly, her face screwed up with distaste.

"Oh God, there's something horribly wrong with the punch," she sputtered.

"It's spiked," Bill explained, taking the cup from her and placing it on the table before reaching for a Butterbeer and handing it to her.

"You guys spike your punch and leave it out for impressionable young second years like myself to imbibe!?" Madison asked in disbelief. "Gryffindors! Honestly!" She twisted the cap off of her Butterbeer and brought it to her lips, drinking thirstily.

"So why were you crying earlier?" Bill asked, causing her to choke a little on her drink.

"Max and I got into a fight," she replied hastily.

"About what?"

"Oh look, I think Corey wants to dance again!" Madison said suddenly, discarding her Butterbeer on the table and rushing over to where the short, brunette boy awaited her.

Bill sighed and finished his drink, wincing slightly as it went down. With his friends all preoccupied, he ascended the stairs and returned to his darkened dorm.

Tonks was still there, lying on her back and staring up at his bed's canopy, her cheeks moist and glistening in the moonlight.

"Hey," Bill greeted softly. He cautiously climbed into bed, letting the curtain fall behind him so that only a sliver remained open, letting in the moonlight. He laid on his back and stared fixedly at his canopy, his arms stiffly at his side. He didn't have the heart to kick Tonks out and make her face the party and Charlie, yet he felt slightly awkward lying in bed with her; she was the first girl to share his bed that wasn't a relative, and this realization caused his mouth to go dry.

The silence was thick between them for several minutes. Bill had no idea what to say, and he was afraid that if he looked at her, she'd look at him and see his resemblance to Charlie, which would probably cause her to cry again, and that was the last thing that Bill wanted.

"Bill?" Tonks said at last, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think he loves her?" Her voice was still weak, though it no longer held the same defeated tone as it did earlier.

"No," Bill replied confidently.

"Then why…?" Her voice cracked as if she was on the brink of tears again.

"Jal got to him first," Bill replied hastily.

"I had him first," Tonks retaliated.

"As a friend. Did you ever try, you know, flirting with him?"

There was a heavy silence in which the pounding music from downstairs echoed up to them, drowning out the sound of Bill's heartbeat.

"No," Tonks replied at last.

Bill didn't reply; he merely listened to the music, allowing it to lure him closer to unconsciousness, the alcohol finally kicking in, making his mind hazy.

"Bill?"

"Yes, Tonks?"

"Can I sleep here tonight?"

_No! No, no, no! Definitely Not._

"Yes," Bill replied, his voice cracking slightly as he drew the word out.

Tonks rolled over on her side, facing him, her fingers seeking out Bill's hand on the mattress.

"Thanks," she said softly, stifling a yawn.

"If someone catches us, I'm going to pretend that I don't know you," Bill stated hastily.

Tonks chuckled softly, the sound of her laughter loosening the tight feeling within Bill's chest.

"We'll be careful," she stated softly.

"Yeah," Bill agreed, allowing his eyes to close, blocking out the world. "'We'll be careful."

-

The party had died down considerably after midnight. Most of the first years had toddled sleepily up to bed, and a lot of the second and third years were following suit. The older kids were finding darkened corners to drunkenly slump against one another in affable silence as their hazy minds drifted off to sleep, and Charlie Weasley, half high on his first experience of alcohol, celebrity and the opposite sex, was seeing Jal to the staircase to the girl's dormitory.

"So I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Jal asked, flashing that beautiful smile of hers at Charlie, causing his stomach to lurch and his heart to beat faster.

"Yes," he replied, his voice as low as a whisper.

Jal's smile widened as she leaned down and captured Charlie's lips once more. Charlie had lost count of how many times they had kissed throughout the night. The first kiss had caught him slightly off guard, and it was so brief and feather light that he almost thought he imagined it. But she had continued to kiss him throughout the night; each kiss was quick and innocent, and yet each one sent a jolt of shock down Charlie's spine. This kiss, however, lingered, her lips on his for a prolonged amount of time before she pulled back and turned, walking up the staircase and throwing smiles over her shoulder at Charlie.

"Yeah, we keep some spare blankets in this closet over here. I promise they're clean, and the couch is quite comfy. You'll be able to go back to Hufflepuff in the morning."

Charlie startled slightly at the voice as Lorna brushed past him on her way to the closet, Madison in her wake.

"Hey, Mad!" Charlie greeted brightly, bounding over to his friend and his Quidditch captain. "Where's Tonks?"

Madison's large, green eyes locked with Charlie's brown ones, and Charlie's smile disappeared. Madison looked as though she had had a really rough night. Her normally bouncy curls were limp, her body tense and her eyes exhausted.

"Tonks left a long time ago, Charlie," she replied, holding her out her arms as Lorna placed blankets in them.

"She did?" Charlie asked, his chest feeling slightly constricted with pain; Tonks hadn't even said goodbye.

"Yeah," Madison replied, carrying the blankets over to the couch. "Tonks was smart and left well before curfew. I should have too, but I stayed to…" but Madison didn't finish her sentence; a frustrated look crossed her features as she turned away from Charlie and began making up the couch.

Charlie furrowed his brow in contemplation. He was beginning to realize that Madison was the only one of his friends that he remembered seeing at the party: Max never made an appearance and he hadn't seen Tonks since she let go of his hand to search for the others at the very beginning of the party. Even Bill was sort of elusive that night. Madison, however, had stuck close to Charlie, dancing with random Gryffindors whenever he was dancing with Jal and standing on the outskirts of whatever group Charlie had talked to throughout the night.

"Hey, Mad?" Charlie asked softly as Madison snuggled under the blankets on the couch.

"Yes, Charlie?"

"Is everything alright?"

Madison sighed. "It will be eventually, I suppose," she said softly.

Charlie sat down on the coffee table and leaned in, his elbows on his knees. "Mad, what's wrong?"

Madison opened her eyes and stared forlornly at Charlie; it looked as though she was having an inner debate with herself. Finally she sighed. "Tonks really wasn't feeling all that great tonight, Charlie," she explained slowly. "And she probably won't be much better tomorrow or the next day, so if you see her, just be extra nice, okay?"

"She's sick? Is she in the hospital wing?" Charlie asked, concern welling in his chest. Madison shrugged.

"I'm sure she'll be fine in no time. You know our Tonks; she bounces back."

Charlie nodded, biting his lower lip thoughtfully. "And what about Max? Is he ok?"

Madison winced slightly at Max's name. "He'll be alright once he gets it through his thick skull that we're not going to leave him just because the Ministry is tracking him," Madison replied.

"Yeah, I don't get why he reacted the way he did; he should know that we wouldn't stop being friends with him because of that!" Charlie commented.

"Yeah, well, Max can be a stupid git sometimes," Madison replied angrily, twisting uncomfortably on the couch as her left hand searched under the cushions and pulled out a shoe. She looked at the shoe oddly before throwing it over the couch.

"You could sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the couch, if you'd like," Charlie offered suddenly.

Madison's frustrated demeanor melted slightly as she sent Charlie a small smile.

"No thanks, Charlie," she replied. "Max told me about Corey's snoring at night."

"I do not snore!" Corey mumbled sleepily as he passed the couch on his way to the boy's dormitory.

"Yeah you do, mate," Charlie said, biting back a grin. "Like the Hogwarts Express roaring through the room every night."

Madison erupted into a peel of giggles as Corey gave Charlie the finger and disappeared up the stairs. Charlie smiled down at Madison as her giggling fit subsided.

"We're going to be okay, aren't we, Mad?" he asked. "Our group, I mean," he clarified.

Madison smiled sleepily. "Yeah, Charlie; we'll be fine. Now piss off. I want to sleep."

Charlie laughed and tousled Madison curls as he got up. "Night, Mad."

"Night," she replied softly.

-

Bill never really lapsed into a deep sleep. His mind was in that state between dreaming and consciousness the whole time, and he heard each of his roommates stumble into the room after the party and get ready for bed. Mick was the last of them and, judging by the bangs and clangs that reached Bill's ears, he was drunk and attempting to make a sobering potion. Bill chuckled at his friend's predicament and pulled Tonks closer to him, burying his face in her hair. His mind was once again drifting off when he heard the door to his dormitory open.

"Hey, Mick! Is my brother asleep?"

Mick drunkenly slurred an answer, and Bill felt Tonks tense in his arms. She turned to face him, her eyes wide, and Bill watched, amazed, as she altered her features: her hair lengthening and lightening and her eyes swirling to cerulean just as Charlie pulled back the curtains around Bill's bed.

"Oh my God! Bill…sorry. I'm…sorry. Wow." Charlie rattled quickly, his face flushing as a smile played across his features. "Hullo Kate," the younger Weasley added shyly.

Mick drunkenly stumbled over and peered at them in a confused fashion over Charlie's shoulder.

Tonks – disguised as Kate – nodded a quick hello to Charlie before burying her face into Bill's pillow.

"Listen, Bill, I won't tell Mum about this if you don't tell her about me and Jal," Charlie reasoned. Tonks jerked slightly at the mention of Jal's name, but otherwise remained silent.

"What do you want, Charlie?" Bill asked, running a distracted hand through his hair.

"I honestly don't even remember," Charlie said, amused. "I think I wanted to talk to you about Max or something, but…wow. Clearly I'm interrupting something, so I'll just go to bed and talk to you later."

"Yeah, you do that," Bill muttered grumpily, running his hand over his face as Charlie's eyes glazed over 'Kate' once more. The younger Weasley sent his brother a sly wink before turning on his heels and leaving the dormitory.

Once his brother was gone, Bill sighed and slumped against the headboard of his bed. Beside him, Tonks slowly melted to her normal features, and Mick, who was still drunkenly staring at them in confusion, shook his head. "I am way too drunk to make sense of any of this," Mick slurred as he lumbered back to his cauldron and added the final ingredients to his potion.

For several long moments, the only sounds in the room were soft sighs from those still sleeping, and light clangs from Mick making his potion. Finally Tonks opened her mouth and spoke, her voice sounding tired, yet stronger:

"I hate this."

Bill, whose dating experience was admittedly limited, had no reply. His hand awkwardly reached out and patted Tonks' red and gold hair.

"Let's get you back to Hufflepuff," Bill said at last, rolling out of bed and extending his hand to Tonks. He wanted her out of there before Mick sobered and asked questions.

To his relief, Tonks accepted his hand and got out of bed. They descended the stairs together and crossed the common room.

"You don't have to walk me," Tonks said once they reached the portrait hole. "I know passage ways that Filch doesn't. I'll be _fine_." She said the last word as though she was trying to convince herself.

"I don't mind," Bill started, but Tonks raised her hand, silencing him.

"Really Bill. I don't need you to walk me."

Bill closed his mouth and nodded, watching solemnly as Tonks crawled through and the portrait closed behind her.

Sighing and feeling as though his life had changed drastically in a matter of hours, Bill turned and made his way back to the stairs, stopping only when he saw someone curled up by the chilly window. He approached the figure curiously.

"Kate," he said softly, shaking her shoulder.

She turned her head and gazed up at him with sleep-ridden eyes. "Bill?" She smiled, her hands reaching up to touch his cheeks.

Bill felt himself flush at the gesture.

"Um, what are you doing sleeping by the window? You'll catch a cold," he informed, wincing at how much he sounded like his mother.

Kate waved a hand dismissively. "Got into a fight with my roommates," she explained, stifling a yawn. "They won't let me back into our dorm."

"Come on," Bill sighed, helping her up. "You can sleep in my bed."

"Weasley, you naughty boy, you," she teased, half asleep. She attempted to stand but ended up falling over; Bill caught her and allowed her to lean against his shoulder. He realized that this was actually a good thing; Charlie had said that he wouldn't tell their Mum about finding Kate and Bill in bed together, but there was no assurance that he wouldn't tell the rest of the school. At least now it would be true.

"Mmmm, bed," Kate slurred as she plopped onto Bill's bed, burrowing her way under the covers.

A now sober Mick came up to a still standing Bill and placed his arm around his shoulders. "Which one is she?" he whispered.

"Kate," Bill replied, gazing down at his occupied bed nervously.

"Kate Kate or Tonks Kate?"

"Kate Kate."

"And why was Tonks up here earlier?"

Bill sent a nervous look around his room, making sure that everyone was asleep.

"She's heart broken," he explained, feeling bad for giving Tonks away, but also feeling relieved to include his friend in the drama.

"Who broke her heart?"

"Charlie."

Mick nodded sleepily and patted Bill on the shoulder. "I'm going to bed. And never drinking again," Mick promised, inching closer to his own bed.

Bill looked at his friend forlornly over his shoulder, his stomach knotted with nerves. "Do I have to sleep with her?" he asked.

"Well you're not sleeping with me! G'night, mate!"

Bill returned his gaze to the sleeping Kate. He had to do this to protect Tonks if Charlie blabbed, so, with a deep breath, Bill got under the covers, his heart pounding as Kate unconsciously drew closer. He laid stiff still, barely allowing himself to breathe until the sun came up.

---

**End Author's Note:** I finally finished the end of this chapter! I had actually ended it earlier originally, but it didn't seem like a good place to end, so I kept writing and...it was hard. I'm not 100 happy with how I ended it, but it works and if I don't move on, I may never get done. :P Anyway, I think my author's note at the end of the last chapter was a little moody, and I may have threatened that this might become an abandoned fic. I'm sorry if I scared anyone. I'm very proud of this fic; proud of how far I've come in less than a year. But every now and then I think about how much further I have yet to go, and I just get overwhelmed. I fully intend to carry on with this fic, and I hope to God that I finish it in a timely manner. But most of all, I just hope that everyone's enjoying this fic.

With that said, the next chapter is not written. -laughs nervously- I know what's going to happen in it though; it's just a matter of finding time to sit down and write it. The past couple of months have just been crazy insane as I try to make the transition into the adult world. So there might be a bit of a wait, but hopefully not too long.


	10. Recover

**Age of Consent****  
(Otherwise known as: I Told You I Could Write This)**

_By Siriusly Amused_

-

**Chapter Nine**_  
Recover_

-

Tonks narrowed her eyes at her reflection in the mirror, daring it to change; however, her hair remained mousey brown and short. She breathed out an exasperated sigh, giving up on her hair for the time being and focusing instead on her facial features. No one other than her mum and dad knew about the subtle changes she did to her face to hide Bellatrix Lestrange's dark eyes, Sirius Black's canine grin and Narcissa Malfoy's pointed features and coloring. She hated that she looked so much like them, hated the fact that their genes coursed through her blood even though she didn't consider them family.

"Get a move on, Tonks! We're going to be late!" Madison exclaimed, suddenly appearing at Tonks' side. She leaned slightly over Tonk's shoulder to gaze into the mirror. "Ugh, I look a mess," she complained, wiping at the dark circles under her eyes. "Stupid Max and his _'I don't want to talk to you, Madison; leave me alone!'_"

"I'm sure he was just feeling vulnerable," Tonks reasoned. She reached into her nearby trunk and took out a silk, yellow scarf, folding it into a headband and wrapping it around her hair.

"Tonks, he avoided me all day yesterday." Madison narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

"Well maybe he was still feeling vulnerable yesterday as well?" Tonks suggested. She rummaged around her trunk until she found a pair of sunglasses to hide her crazy Aunt Bellatrix eyes.

"And yet he spent nearly the entire day with Charlie and Jal." Madison paused to wince apologetically at Tonks for bringing up the dreaded couple. Tonks waved her off and grabbed some lipstick to add color to her face. She was also pretty certain that Sirius had never worn lipstick, so the color would detract from his smile that she shared.

"AND I saw him studying with Bill in the library yesterday!" Madison continued angrily, throwing her hands above her head.

"Alright, he's avoiding you," Tonks consented. She grabbed her bag and strung it over her shoulder, linking arms with Madison as they left their room and navigated the tunnels to their common room. "But I'm sure he has his reasons," she continued. "Max is usually so sweet." Her face darkened slightly. "Unlike Charlie."

"Charlie's sweet," Madison said as they left their common room and entered the hallway, joining students on their way to class. "He's just oblivious," Madison went on. "Doesn't know what he has."

Tonks smiled slightly at her friend's compliment, and the two girls walked in a comfortable silence until they reached the Transfiguration classroom and saw Charlie, Max and Jal sitting at a table together. They stopped short, not used to their territory being invaded, then found a table at the front of the classroom. Moments later, Corey joined them, sitting next to Madison and smiling widely at her. Tonks smirked at her friend.

"Quiet, please," McGonagall stated firmly as she strode to the front of the classroom. "Miss Tonks, take those sunglasses off; you're indoors," she added.

Tonks felt herself blush as she took the sunglasses off; she didn't have to turn around in her seat to know that Charlie was looking at her; she could feel the burn of his gaze on her back. She ignored the sensation and focused instead on what McGonagall was saying.

"Now, some of you may remember that last week we talked about the theory behind mammal to object transfiguration and this week we'll be putting that into practice. You'll be breaking off into pairs and will take turns transfiguring the animal into goblets and back again." She was using her wand to place small, furry animals onto everyone's table. She placed a small squirrel in front of Madison and Corey, then looked at Tonks uncertainly. "Ah, Miss Tonks, you can pair up with," her eyes scanned the room to find another group of three to break up, "Mr. Jenkins," she finished.

Tonks gazed over her shoulder to see Max rise affably from his seat, sending Tonks his usual dorky grin. If he was still upset about them finding out about the whole tracking ordeal, he didn't show it.

"See ya," Tonks whispered to Madison and Corey as she grabbed her bag and made her way over to a table where McGonagall was handing a small rabbit to Max.

"Ladies first," Max greeted, waving a hand at the rabbit on the table.

Tonks smirked at him, letting her bag slip off her shoulder and land on a chair. "What's the matter, Max? Scared you won't be able to do it?" Tonks quipped.

Max grinned at her slyly. "Oh I can do it," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Watch." He rolled up his sleeves and aimed his wand at the rabbit. Tonks noticed that his tie and collar were loose, and she caught a slight glimpse of the chain of his necklace, flashing brilliantly against his pale skin.

"There!" he exclaimed suddenly, drawing Tonks out of her staring. She glanced quickly at the table to see that the rabbit had successfully transfigured into a pristine, glass goblet. A few people at nearby tables who had either tin or copper goblets, some still with bushy tails, glared at Max enviously. "Beat that, Tonks!" Max said loudly, waving his wand to return the goblet to a rabbit.

"You are on, Maxxie-poo," Tonks teased, stepping closer to the table. She focused her attention on the rabbit, waved her wand properly and said the incantation, grinning when the rabbit fluidly transfigured into a glass goblet rimmed with gold. She grinned at Max.

"Bet you can't do it again," he said. His blue eyes were playful.

"Bet I can."

He waved his wand, and the goblet melted back into a rabbit. "Go on then."

Tonks was halfway through the incantation when she felt a playful jab to her side. She yelped in shock and her goblet ended up deformed with two long ears.

"Oh no fair!" she wailed, grabbing a hold of both of Max's hands to prohibit him from poking her again. He struggled slightly, grinning the whole time, until he managed to get one hand free from her grip; he started tickling her.

"Stop!" she shrieked through peals of laughter, and Max stopped, though it was probably due to McGonagall sending them a stern glare.

"Alright, alright; you win," Max said, waving his arm to turn Tonks' deformed goblet back into a rabbit. He leaned against the table and smiled at her, reminding her again about how casual and normal he was acting around her.

"So," Tonks said conversationally, her eyes staying focused on the rabbit to avoid looking at Max. "You seem better. It doesn't bother you anymore that we know about your necklace?"

"Nope," Max replied quickly. His voice was amicable, though Tonks noticed his stance had become slightly rigid. He turned away from her uncomfortably, as if he knew where she was heading with her conversation. He waved his wand and turned the rabbit back into a goblet to look busy.

"It's just that…Madison has some crazy notion that you're avoiding her."

Max didn't answer; he merely sighed, his shoulders rising and falling in a frustrated manner.

"Are you? You know, avoiding her?" Tonks prodded. Again, Max didn't answer; his eyes fixated on Madison several tables ahead of him.

"You are," Tonks answered for him, and Max looked away. Tonks took a step closer to him so that she could whisper. "Listen, Max, I know that you like her."

Max immediately turned to gaze at her with wide, shocked eyes, and Tonks even caught a slight glimpse of a pink tinge form at the base of his neck before fading back to the pristine white of his skin.

"You guys were obviously and obnoxiously cute last year," Tonks explained, rolling her eyes. "Even Charlie knows."

Max returned his intense stare to their table, his jaw tense.

"Anyway, I know you like her and probably care about what she thinks about you more than you do the rest of us, but I assure you, Max, she doesn't think any less of you!" Tonks continued in a hushed voice. "She doesn't care that the Ministry's…you know. And you shouldn't either!"

"It's not that," Max said quietly; so quietly that Tonks barely heard him. He was keeping his eyes fixed firmly on their table. "I'm avoiding her for a different reason."

"Which is?" Tonks pushed. She leaned over the table and dipped her head slightly, trying to force Max to look at her.

"I can't tell you."

"Max!" Tonks bristled. She could feel her indignation creeping up her spine, ready to break forth from her in a barrage of irritated complaints about how she was his friend and he could trust her and all that.

"We're in class," Max explained, looking at her with pleading eyes. "Someone might overhear."

"Oh. Right." Tonks eyes roved around the classroom; nearly everyone still looked preoccupied with what they were doing, but that didn't mean that no one was listening in. Her gaze caught Charlie's, and he grinned at her and waved happily. Distracted by her thoughts of Max, Tonks waved back nonchalantly, forgetting that she was currently upset with Charlie until Jal grabbed his wrist, directing him back to their table and reminding Tonks that her heart had recently been broken.

The bell rang, and there was suddenly a mass of commotion as everyone gathered their things. Tonks grabbed her bag and slung it on her shoulder before reaching out for their rabbit to return to McGonagall. Max fervently grabbed her wrist mid-reach. Her eyes suddenly locked with his, noting the fear and urgency that shone just behind their blue irises.

"Meet me in the library tonight after dinner. By the history section so no one will hear," he instructed quickly.

Tonks nodded.

Max released his grip and began to turn away to gather his things, but immediately turned towards her again, his hand latching onto her arm.

"Just you," he clarified.

"Alright," Tonks whispered softly; there was something in his demeanor that convinced Tonks that whatever he was dealing with was important and private, and she felt both pleased and slightly uncomfortable that he was willing to share it with her.

He swallowed and released her again, fidgeting nervously.

"You ready, Tonks?"

Tonks jumped, slightly taken aback to find Madison standing next to her. The brunette had her books clasped to her chest protectively, her eyes staring intently and sadly at Max.

Tonks quickly grabbed the rabbit, her face flushing in embarrassment, though she was uncertain of what exactly she was embarrassed about.

"Hi Max," Madison said softly.

Max nodded his head once. "Mad," he replied before slinging his schoolbag over his shoulder and quickly going to join Charlie and Jal at the door.

Madison huffed in frustration. "He's such an ass," she whispered under her breath, linking arms with Tonks and leading her to the front of the classroom.

Tonks bit her lip to keep from defending Max. She knew Madison was hurting more than she let on.

-

Bill's eyes scanned the Gryffindor table as he entered the Great Hall for lunch. Mick's sobering potion hadn't been perfect, and the burly boy had awoken on Sunday morning to find himself covered with boils. He had spent the entire day in the hospital wing and had yet to return; therefore, Bill had the unfortunate decision of either sitting by himself at the table, or with Charlie.

"Hey, Charlie," he greeted, shrugging his school bag off of his shoulders and settling into the seat across from his brother. The younger boy turned away from the girl he had been talking to and graced Bill with a jovial smile and greeting. The girl, however, glared at Bill for drawing Charlie's attention away. It was then that Bill recognized her as Charlie's new girlfriend; he had forgotten about her.

"Bill, you know Jal, right?" Charlie asked, indicating the pretty girl next to him.

Bill pushed whatever defensive feelings he felt on Tonks' behalf aside and smiled widely at the girl, offering his hand amicably across the table. "Of course. Your lady," Bill said. Jal cautiously shook hands with him.

"Charlie said that you want to be a curse breaker when you get older," she mentioned casually.

"Yeah. I mean, it's still early, but I'd like to, yeah."

She bit her lip nervously. "Do you really feel people up with your mind?" she asked.

Bill sent Charlie a glare which he hoped conveyed the sentiments of _'You're a bastard'_. "My brother likes to exaggerate," he told the younger girl.

Jal cast her eyes downward, staring at her plate, embarrassed. "Oh," she said quietly. Charlie nudged her side playfully, earning a smile in return.

Bill rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the new couple's frequent attempts to touch each other, but that was easier said than done. He tried focusing entirely on his food, but he couldn't ignore the flirtations of his brother.

"You two are disgustingly cute," Bill said as he grabbed his food and bag and rose from his seat. "I'm going to eat somewhere else."

He was fairly certain that neither of them noticed his movements. He rolled his eyes, walked down the table and sat down at the first empty spot he came across.

"Hello, Bill."

He glanced up, shocked to find that he was sitting across from Kate.

"Hi," he stated awkwardly, feeling the blush rise to his cheeks. He hadn't seen or spoken to her since Saturday night. He had eventually fallen asleep just before dawn, and awoke a few hours later (to Mitch's panicked yells over finding himself covered with boils, but that was unimportant) and found her gone. She had left a note on his pillow, however, which read _'Thanks for the wonderful night!'_ and the innuendo of it caused something to stir in his lower abdomen. He didn't feel about her the same way as he had felt about Athena; he was actually somewhat scared of the petite blonde; he knew her reputation, and he didn't want to become attached because he was certain that she'd quickly move on.

"So," Kate said after a long silence. "There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up."

"Yeah," Bill answered. His eyes caught a glimpse of movement from the Ravenclaw table; Athena was leaving it, smiling over her shoulder and waving goodbye to her friends. "I've got to go," Bill said at once, cutting off Kate, who had opened her mouth to say something more; probably to ask him to go to Hogsmeade with her.

He slung his school bag over his shoulder and quickened his pace to catch up with his friend. She startled slightly when he finally caught up to her.

"Bill!" she exclaimed in her shock upon noticing him at her side. They left the Great Hall, and Bill felt her stare intensify. "Are you alright?" she asked, noticing his discomfort.

He stopped and ran his hands through his hair; she turned to face him, a look of concern crossing her features.

"Yeah," Bill said at last, gazing up at the ceiling in an effort to calm himself. "It's just…I think Kate was trying to ask me to go to Hogsmeade with her."

"Most blokes your age would consider that a good thing," Athena quipped, her lips tugging into a smile for a moment before she furrowed her brow in confusion. "What's the matter? You seemed interested enough Saturday at the Quidditch game."

"Yeah, well that was before…"

"Before what?"

Bill bit his lip, unsure of whether or not he should tell her. Finally, he grabbed her wrist and led her over to a suit of armor, dipping his head and lowering his voice so no one would overhear.

"Saturday night Tonks was feeling pretty horrible. Over the Charlie thing, you know?"

Athena nodded, and Bill continued.

"So I took her up to my room to calm her down. And we sort of…fell asleep. In my bed. Together."

Athena's jaw dropped.

"Bill, she's twelve!"

"Thirteen," Bill corrected quickly without thinking. "It's November and her birthday's in October."

"…Still." Athena screwed her face up with disgust.

"Nothing happened!" Bill exclaimed defensively. "Honestly, we literally just slept on the same bed by accident." He decided to leave out the part about him wrapping an arm around the younger girl, and the fact that she was the first girl that he had spooned against. "And besides…" he prattled on, "two years…that's nothing, really."

Athena nodded. "Yeah, I know it's just that…she's still a bit young."

"Nothing happened!"

"Okay, I believe you!"

Bill inhaled deeply in an effort to calm down.

"Okay, so you and Tonks accidentally and innocently slept together. I fail to see what this has to do with Kate," Athena said at last.

"Well, we woke up in the middle of the night to Charlie coming into the room and asking Mick if I was in bed," Bill explained. "Tonks must have figured that Charlie would get defensive if he knew she was there, so she quickly changed into Kate."

"Oh."

"Yeah, well I'm not finished," Bill continued. "Charlie didn't stay long when he saw me and Kate together, but after that Tonks and I decided that it would be best to get her back to Hufflepuff. So I walked her down to the common room, and she insisted that she'd go back to Hufflepuff alone. And when I turned around again to go back to bed, I saw Kate curled up by the window; her roommates had kicked her out apparently. And I thought…Charlie might tell people that I had had Kate in my bed, so I decided to make it true."

Athena's jaw dropped. "William Weasley, you are a dog!"

"NOTHING HAPPENED!"

Athena immediately snapped her mouth shut, then smirked slightly. Bill ran an agitated hand through his hair.

"She just slept, and I mostly just stared at my bed curtains," he admitted. "But the thing is that I could feel her. Not in the normal physical sense, but in my weird sixth sense kind of way. And she felt…" He paused, trying to find words to describe it. "Intoxicating and yet…poisonous. A part of me wants to be with her, but I know it won't be a good relationship."

Athena's face softened, and she placed a comforting hand on Bill's arm. "You're still getting used to that freaky sixth sense of yours," she reasoned. "You could be wrong."

"I could be right," he retaliated softly.

She sighed, her hand running down his arm, leaving a trail of warmth as it came to interlock with his own hand. "You know what I think we should do?" she asked in a whisper, and Bill, for reasons unknown to him, felt something stir in the pit of his stomach.

"What?" he asked, his mouth going dry.

"I think we should skip History of Magic and go see Mick in the hospital wing. I hear the idiot's gone and covered himself in boils."

Bill chuckled, glancing down at his feet, red locks falling in front of his eyes. He looked up again, making eye contact with Athena and feeling strangely comforted.

"That sounds like an awesome plan," he said at last. "Yes, let's go." He draped an arm around her shoulders and lead her in the direction of the hospital wing.

-

"Psst, Tonks! Over here!"

Tonks stumbled slightly as she turned on her heel, her mousy brown hair falling into her eyes as she peered down a long row of long-forgotten history books. Max stood at the end of the row, the sun setting magnificently through a window behind him.

"Hey," she greeted softly, gracing him with a smile as she approached. She paused awkwardly once she had reached him, her hands fidgeting with the straps of her schoolbag. She liked Max, but wasn't as close to him as Charlie and Madison were, so she had to wonder why he was willing to share what must be a personal secret with her and not them. "So what's up?" she asked at last, hoping he wouldn't note the hint of anticipation in her voice.

Max bit his lower lip thoughtfully, as though he wasn't sure of where to begin.

"Do you know about Legilimency?" he asked at last.

Tonks stared at him blankly.

"I take that as a no," he continued, smiling shyly and gazing at her through his eye lashes. "Legilimency is…not really a spell, but…a form of magic? In which a witch or wizard is able to get feelings and memories out of someone else. Kind of like mind reading, but not really."

"Okaay," Tonks replied. "So…can you do Legilimency?" As impressed as Tonks was with the concept, she failed to see how this had anything to do with Madison.

"Sort of?" Max replied, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Most vampires, not all, but most, have an ability to read minds that's much like Legilimency, only more exact and easier for us to do. Does that make sense?"

Tonks paused, then thought _'Yes.'_ Max continued to stare at her questioningly.

"Well, does it?" he asked.

"I said yes in my mind," Tonks replied, placing her hands on her hips. "Can you not read minds?"

"No, I can," Max assured. "But I tend not to. It's rude. There are times when someone is thinking something so strongly that I can't help but overhear, but I try not to."

"Okaay," Tonks said again. She blushed, wondering if Max had ever overheard her think of something embarrassing.

"Anyway, Saturday night, when you guys found out that the Ministry tracks me, I…I got scared. Vampires really aren't accepted into polite society, you know. My older sister was treated like shit when her Hogwarts friends found out about her being a vampire. She didn't tell them until her fifth year, see…"

"But we all knew from the start that you were a vampire!" Tonks argued.

"I know, I know!" He glanced down at his feet and ran a hand through his hair again. "And I know it was stupid of me, but I was afraid that if you guys knew that I'm being tracked, you'd pity me or think of me like a caged pup or something. And it was wrong of me, and I'm sorry, but I…I quickly read your minds to see what you guys thought of me." He gazed up at her apologetically, his face slightly pink.

Tonks thought back to that night and remembered the momentary feeling of disorientation, as though white noise flittered through her brain. She remembered Charlie standing next to her, shaking his head as if to clear it.

"You, Bill and Charlie all felt angry and indignant with the Ministry for treating me different. Because none of you view me as a freak," he continued, smiling slightly at her.

"And Madison?" Tonks asked, her mouth going dry.

Max breathed in deeply. "I couldn't read her," he said at last, very quietly.

Tonks furrowed her brow in confusion. "What, you mean, like, you didn't have the heart to read her or…?"

"No, I tried to read her, but I couldn't. I couldn't get into her mind; it's completely sealed off from me."

"So she has a strong mind?" Tonks asked. "Huh, I would have thought Bill would have the strongest mind out of us," she continued conversationally.

"It's not that either," Max interrupted. "It is possible for someone to block off their mind to a vampire, but it requires practice. There's no way Madison would know how to do it. Any other vampire would be able to read her like a book."

Tonks blinked, confused once again. "So what does it mean that you can't read her mind?"

Max was blushing as much as his vampirism would allow. "We have this thing in vampire culture. Kind of like an old wives' tale or a superstition or something. Basically…you…you can't read the thoughts of your…" he paused again, his face screwing with disgust, "soul mate."

The two stood silently for a moment, Tonks staring at Max with her jaw agape and Max wincing as if the truth hurt.

"You and Mad are _soul mates_!?" Tonks asked in an excited whisper. She suddenly realized why Max couldn't share this piece of info with Madison or Charlie; it would scare Madison, and Charlie would scoff at it.

"I think we might be," Max admitted; he looked slightly ill.

"You don't seem too happy about this," Tonks observed.

"I'm _thirteen_!" Max retaliated. "Most vampires don't find their soul mates until they're over one hundred, at least! My brother, Etienne, was three hundred and twelve!"

Tonks paused.

"You have a three hundred and twelve-year-old brother!?" she asked. She was finding out all sorts of stuff about Max.

Max didn't answer; he sighed and leaned wearily back against the window sill. "So that's why I'm avoiding her," he said quietly. "I'm scared."

Tonks came and stood beside him, taking his hand and resting her head on his shoulder. "I guess I can understand that," she replied. She wondered vaguely if she and Charlie were soul mates. For over a year, she had felt as if they were, but now he was with someone else, and she was left with nothing more than an intense pain in her chest and a lapse in her Metamorphmagus abilities.

"And there are other reasons for me to give her space," Max went on. "Like…I don't know if we'll end up together or not, but if we do, it'll be forever. I'd probably have to turn her. Into a vampire," he clarified once he noticed Tonks' confused look. "And I just want her to have a life of her own before that happens. I want her to have other boyfriends. So that when she chooses me…if she chooses me…it'll be because she didn't feel the same way about someone else."

"That's very sweet of you, Max," Tonks told him, squeezing his hand slightly.

"And I also kind of want to sleep around myself."

Tonks' head snapped up and she glared at him. "Typical male."

Max shrugged unapologetically.

"So, why did you decide to tell me all this?" Tonks asked.

"I dunno," he replied, glancing down at his feet. "It's too much for me to handle by myself?"

"You could have written a family member about it or something."

Max laughed sardonically. "My mother would be so delighted that she'd probably come right over here and demand that Mad and I get married on the spot. And that's the last thing I want right now. My older siblings either won't care or make fun of me."

Tonks nodded thoughtfully. "So do you feel better now that you've gotten it off of your chest?"

Max nodded. "Kind of, I guess."

They sat in silence for a few moments; then, Max stood, stretching his arms over his head. "Let's go sneak into the kitchens," he suggested. "I don't want to go back to the common room and face Jal; bitch stole my best friend."

Tonks smiled. "Mine too." She stood, stepping closer to Max and allowing him to throw an arm around her shoulders.

"Looks like we'll have to be each other's best friend for awhile," he said as they walked down the row of books. "Sorry you're stuck with me."

Tonks smiled up at him. "It's not so bad, really. Being stuck with you."

-

Kate was staring at him, and it was unnerving. He tried to keep his eyes focused on his potions essay, but the burn of her gaze was too much for him to handle, and he constantly found himself lifting his eyes to peer at her. She would always smile at him, a slow smile playing across her features suggestively as chewed the sugar quill in her hand. It was driving him mad, and he would have gotten up, gone to her and asked her to Hogsmeade if it wasn't for Charlie.

"Bill, where the fuck is everyone?" the younger Weasley said as he pulled a chair up to the table that Bill was sitting at. Charlie's lips were pink and slightly swollen; he obviously had been spending time with Jal.

"Mick's still in the hospital wing," Bill recounted. "Max felt like a third wheel between you and Jal, so he went to study in the library. And Tonks and Madison are probably in their common room."

Charlie remained silent for a few minutes, propping his chin in his hand as he thought about something.

"I hope Tonks is feeling better," he said at last. "Mad said that she had gotten sick or something at the party Saturday night. Maybe she didn't know the punch was spiked and drank too much?" The younger Weasley peered at Bill inquisitively, and Bill shrugged, a slightly guilty feeling creeping up the base of his spine.

"Anyway, I think she's feeling better today," Charlie continued. "Did you see her today?"

"Just in the halls and stuff," Bill mumbled. The truth was he was somewhat avoiding Tonks, the memory of Saturday night too fresh in his mind.

"She has an interesting look today," Charlie said. "And I don't mean, like, the sunglasses and lipstick, but…her face. She usually doesn't change her face on a daily basis, except for maybe her eye color."

Bill peered at his brother, scrutinizing him. Did Charlie not realize…?

"I didn't get a chance to talk to her today; Jal was distracting. But I kept staring at Tonks in class. Her facial features just seem so familiar, but at the same time, they look so unique. She really out did herself on that one. I should tell her that."

"Um, Charlie?"

"Yeah, Bill?"

"I think that's what Tonks really looks like," Bill paused. "Like, I think that's her real face. Hair too probably."

Charlie looked skeptical.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Well besides the obvious fact that she looked like she was trying to hide her hair and face what with that scarf and the sunglasses and lipstick… That extra sense of magic around her was gone today."

"So what? Are you saying she lost her Metamorphmagus ability?"

Bill shrugged.

"Why would she lose it?"

Bill sighed. He had a good idea of why Tonks might have lost it, but he couldn't tell Charlie that. "Well if she was sick recently, maybe that's why? Remember when dad was sick that one time and could barely do simple spells?"

Charlie nodded thoughtfully. "You'd think she'd have it back by now."

"Yeah. You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Bill leaned back in his chair; Kate was still staring at him. "I'm going to go to the library," he announced suddenly.

-

Tonks and Max were just leaving the kitchen, laughing amicably amongst themselves when they suddenly ran into Bill. He gazed at her urgently, his arms crossed over his chest. Tonks' breath caught in her throat, and Max peered between the two of them, obviously noticing the awkward tension between them.

"Hey, Bill," Tonks said softly.

"Hey. Max, Charlie's looking for you in the common room," Bill announced, not taking his eyes off of Tonks.

"Oookaaay," Max said slowly. "I'll just walk Tonks back to her common room then be on my way."

"I'll walk Tonks back," Bill said suddenly.

"I can walk myself. It's just around the corner," Tonks shot back defensively.

"Fine. You can walk yourself and I'll follow you," Bill amended. It was clear that he wanted to talk to her alone. Tonks caught Max's eye, and his voice suddenly filled her head: _'I'll stay if you want me to.'_

Tonks smiled sheepishly. "I'll be fine," she said out loud, unused to the nonverbal communication.

Max nodded and started walking away, though he gave Bill what looked like a warning glance before he did so.

"So what's up, Weasley?" Tonks asked, turning on her heel and heading in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room.

"I just want to make sure you're alright," Bill said at last.

"And why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because Charlie's with some girl who isn't you? And maybe because your Metamorphmagus ability is currently gone. And you're trying to hide it."

Tonks stopped and turned to face Bill, her mouth agape. "How did you…?"

"I feel people up with my mind, remember? The magic around you and Max is usually strong, but right now you feel just the same as Madison."

Tonks rolled her eyes, then realized that she was still wearing her sunglasses and that Bill probably didn't see the gesture. "You are creepy, William," she said instead, continuing her trek down the corridor. "And don't worry about me; I'm fine."

Bill suddenly grabbed her arm, causing her to turn and face him once again. He reached out his hand and pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head so that he could see her eyes.

"Are you?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice. Tonks' defensive demeanor melted slightly.

"I will be," she said softly. "I promise."

Bill stared at her intensely for another moment, his grip on her arm still tight before he sighed and allowed her sunglasses to fall back to the bridge of her nose.

"Good," he said at last, relinquishing his hold. "Because my brother isn't worth it." He turned and began walking away, only to turn back around momentarily, a playful smirk on his lips. "Oh, by the way. Charlie likes your face."

-

Bill rounded the corner of the corridor, feeling slightly better after talking to Tonks; his high hopes suddenly came crashing down as he found Jal skulking about the corner, a sly smirk on his lips and one hand on her hip.

"Jal," Bill said, a bit shocked to find her. "Where did you come from?"

"Choir practice," Jal answered simply. "You seem really close to Tonks." She said it like an accusation.

"So?" Bill asked, shoving his hands into his pockets defensively.

Jal shrugged. "It's just weird when she's two years younger than you and you've got someone like Kate, who's crazy about you."

"Jal, Tonks is just a friend."

Jal rolled her dark eyes.

"Yeah, and Tonks like Charlie as a brother," she huffed. She sighed, her shoulders sagging as her eyes locked with Bill's. "Don't worry, Weasley. I'll keep your secret."

--

**End Author's Note:** Yay, this chapter's finally done! It was originally planned for this chapter to span through their Christmas holidays, but that would have made it insanely long, so I ended it sooner. Also, you may or may not have found a plethora of typos. I haven't proofread this a million times like I usually do for Age of Consent chapters, and my mind has been a bit frazzled due to the whole college ending thing. So if the quality of writing in this chapter is sub par, please forgive me. I thought about postponing updating it, but I'm really too excited.

Someone asked me in a review where I got the name Jal from. That person also asked if I was a Sci Fi fan. I'm not really a big Sci Fi fan (though I do like Star Wars). I got the name Jal from a British TV drama called Skins. (Any other Skins fans out there?) As a matter of fact, Max is partially based off of the Skins character Maxxie...lookswise that is. Skins Maxxie is actually gay, not a vampire, likes to party and occasionally gets stoned. But, yeah, when I was developing Max as a character, Maxxie's looks popped into my head once I decided to make him blonde. If any of you are curious to see the Max in my head, do a google image search on Mitch Hewer.

And now I'm off to bed.


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